The Olympics - Marathon

Written By:  Andrew & Becx Eide

Every four years the Olympics holds the Summer Olympics and the longest-running (pun intended) event is the Marathon Foot Race which is approximately 26 miles in length. Also in Cities across the world nearly every week there is some sort of Marathon Foot Race being held and they are also usually around 26 miles in length.

Have you ever wondered where they got the name Marathon for this race and why they came up with a very odd distance of 26 miles?

The Marathon is a long-distance running event with a current official distance of 26.2 miles. The event was instituted in the first Olympics in 1896 and was designed to commemorate the fables run of the Greek soldier, Pheidippides who was a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The legend tells that he ran the entire distance from Marathon to Athens, without stopping, and he burst into the Assembly to announce the victory at Marathon, and then the legend says he collapsed and died.

Whether this is a true story, or a mere legend, the fact remains that Pheidippides’ legend is what instituted the run we call the Marathon and why it is distanced at 26.2 miles and it is a non-stop race.

The distance has varied over the generations but the distance of approximately 26.2 miles, the approximate distance from Marathon to Athens, remains in place since the first official Olympics in 1896 and it remains one of the most popular, and consistent in distance, races around the world today.