Why is a marathon race exactly 26 miles and 385 yards long?
The marathon distance was later changed as a result of the 1908 Olympic Games in London, England. That year, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria requested that the marathon begin at Windsor Castle (20 miles west of central London), so that the Royal family could view the start. The course distance between the castle and the Olympic Stadium in London was 26 miles. Event organizers added an extra 385 yards around t ...more
There are two roads out of the battlefield of Marathon towards Athens, one more mountainous towards the north whose distance is about 21.4 miles (34.5 km), and another flatter but longer towards the south with a distance of 25.4 miles (40.8 km). It has been successfully argued that the ancient runner took the more difficult northern road because at the time of the battle there were still Persian soldiers in the south of the plain.
In modern times, the choice of distance for different so-called marathon races was somewhat arbitrary. The first modern Olympics in 1896 had a marathon distance of 24.85 miles (40 km). Before t ...more