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The History of the Marathon

The marathon is one of the most storied races of all time. Originally conceived as a race for the 1896 Olympics in Athens, the marathon immediately captured the imagination and hearts of the running public. Transported to Boston in 1897 by American spectators, the history of the marathon in the new world is almost as long as the history of the marathon itself.

In his book, Olympic Marathon, Charlie Lovett devotes a short chapter to each of the Olympic marathons - including a view of the participants of each race, the politics and the perserverence. Through permission, we include four chapters of this book here, describing the marathon myth, the creation of the first marathon and that race itself, the struggle to include a women's Olympic Marathon and the first women's race. Fascinating reading and a fascinating book:


 Marathon Records
On Feb. 15, 1896, G. Grigorou won the first marathon: the Greek Marathon Trials preceeding the first Olympics. No one was very impressed with his time of 3 hours 45 minutes and the Greeks held two more trials before choosing their team to participate in the Olympic Marathon.

When Spiridon Louis won the first Olympic Marathon later in 1896 in 2:58:50 (on a 40K course), the Marathon-era began. From that original race to Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe's current records, we have the stories and the times. Use the form to the right to view the fastest 400 men's and women's marathons of all time. Visit our Interactive Graph of the World Marathon Records from 1900 to the present-day to get an overview of some of the most famous marathons in history.

 Marathon History
Did you Know:

The current marathon distance (26 mi., 385 yds.) was set for the 1908 London Olympics so that the course could start at Windsor Castle and end in front of the Royal Box. Not until 1921, however, was that distance adopted as the "official" Marathon distance by the IAAF.


 Marathon Records
View the list of the top 200 male or female marathon performances of all time.
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 Marathon Records
Did you Know:

Only five men and eight women were able to follow one marathon world record with another. James Peters set four marathon records between 1952 and 1954, while Abebe Bikila, Derek Clayton, Khalid Khannouchi, and most recently Haile Gebrselassie each set two world records in the race. On the women's side, Greta Weitz set four world records in a row from 1978 to 1983 (the last stood only for one day!), while Chantal Langlace, Jacqueline Hansen, Christa Vahlensieck, Joyce Smith, Tegla Loroupe and most recently Paula Radcliffe each broke the marathon record twice.

Perhaps the most famous of all of the world records were the races of Abebe Bikila, the barefoot Ethiopian, who set world records four years apart while winning the Olympic Marathons in 1960 (barefoot) and 1964 (wearing shoes).



 

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