To many, the marathon race is thought to have begun in 1896, yet its history is far older. Ignoring the Pheidippides legend, the original Olympic marathon distance was more than a matter of geography; it represented the stretch from Marathon to Athens.
The recognized distance today is 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards), but for the first thirty years of its Olympic history, the standard distance was often accepted as 25 miles (40 km). This distance of 25 miles translates to about 40.233 km, making 40 km a familiar length for many countries that hosted races around that mark, just short of the 25-mile measurement.
In Britain, professional pedestrians had been racing the 25-mile distance for years. In December 1824, pedestrian John Townsend challenged Robert Skipper, then known as the “Champion of England,” to a match over 25 miles.
In November 1843, George Bradshaw defeated champion pedestrian Robert Fuller in a 25-mile race, finishing in 3:59. Less than a year later, another “Great Footrace” featured Bradshaw against B Butler, heralded as the top two pedestrians of the time, also covering 25 miles.
As amateur long-distance running gained traction, William Fuller set a 10-mile track record in 1873, and later that year, Sydney Weall attempted to run 20 miles in under 2 hours on the road. Road racing was relatively uncommon, yet a successful 25-mile track walk in May 1876 marked the start of amateur events at that distance.
The first amateur go-as-you-please track event occurred in 1879. By 1881, amateur distance running had advanced significantly, with British runner George Dunning achieving the best recorded time over 25 miles: 2:33:44.0, surpassing professional times.
Meanwhile, European races of around 40 km were taking place. In 1885, Frenchman Louis Saussus won a 38 km (22.5 miles) race from Paris to Versailles in 2:36:30. In 1892, Auguste Marchais ran 36.7 km in Paris in three hours.
From 1892 onwards, Sweden held 40 km races between Stockholm and Sudertalje and Norrkoping and Linkoping, with the former becoming a regular event. Julius Olsson set a time of 2:27:17.6 in 1894. A 36 km race occurred in Frankfurt in 1895.
James Lupton’s 1890 book The Pedestrian Record cataloged records for various distances and time frames, highlighting Dunning’s 25-mile record as the absolute best for that distance. This documentation mirrored the detailed newspaper accounts of the time.
In an era dominated by professional distance runners, an amateur holding the absolute best time carried notable weight within the official amateur hierarchy, which sought to maintain its standing against professional sports.
When Pierre Coubertin was tasked by the French government in 1889 to study modern physical culture and later visited Britain, he likely encountered The Pedestrian Record, which showcased various achievements. The Olympics emerging from Coubertin’s research were intended to celebrate amateur athletics—professionals were excluded.
The 25-mile distance, where an amateur surpassed professionals, held particular interest for the newly formed International Olympic Committee as they considered the Marathon’s length, proposed by Michel Breal.
The shortest route from Marathon to the Panathenic Stadium in Athens was likely around 34 km. Authors Roger Gynn and David Martin argue in The Olympic Marathon that the longer coastal path chosen for the 1896 race catered to those familiar with imperial measurements, which included 100 yards and one mile distances from earlier German athletic championships.
British runner Len Hurst was among the early prominent marathon competitors, excelling in the challenging professional Paris-Conflans races of 40 km from 1896 to 1904. His success illustrates the significance of the 40 km/25-mile distance in the early 20th century.
On September 23, 1901, Hurst triumphed in the professional 25-Mile world championships at Stamford Hill, London. Two years later, on August 27, 1903, he set a professional record for the 25-mile distance at 2:32:42, narrowly surpassing Dunning’s time. His accomplishment was likely perceived as a challenge to professional pride.
During the early 1900s, Olympic marathons closely approximated this distance. The 1900 Paris marathon was 40.260 km, the 1904 St. Louis marathon was 40 km, and the 1906 Intercalated Athens Marathon measured 41.860 km. While the exact measurements remain uncertain, the nominal distance hovered around 40 km.
Many countries held inaugural “marathons” near the 40 km mark. Gyula Kellner from Hungary qualified for the 1896 Olympics with a 40 km run in three hours in Budapest. Norway’s first marathon in 1896 was also 40.2 km. The inaugural non-European marathon occurred in New York that same year, measuring 25 miles (40 km). The first Boston Marathon in 1897 spanned 24.7 miles (39.75 km). The first Danish race in 1898 was 40.2 km, and that year Arthur Techtow won Germany’s first marathon, again at 40 km. The first Swiss and Austrian races in 1901 were over 40.2 km and 40 km, respectively.
The first Finnish race in 1906 covered 40.2 km. A 40 km distance was chosen for the first marathon in what is now the Czech Republic in 1908, and in Canada that same year, the distance was 25 miles. The first South African Union championships in 1908 also ran over 25 miles, following a previous event in 1903 from Durban to Isipingo that attracted 148 entrants.
Kiev hosted the first marathon in the Russian Empire in 1913, measuring 38 verstas (40.2 km), won by Aleksandr Maksimov. The first Japanese marathon was also 25 miles in 1911, and a 25-mile event took place in Tokyo during the Far Eastern Games Marathon in 1917.
The early U.S. Olympic trials reflect this consistency as well. The 1900 race was 38.752 km, while the 1908 trial measured 39.750 km, with two trials in 1912 recorded at 39.750 km and 40.233 km.
The original program for the 1908 Olympics, approved by the IOC in spring 1907, specified a marathon race of 40 kilometers on a course marked by the Amateur Athletic Association that would finish inside the stadium, including the last 1/3 mile on the track. This was likely communicated to participating nations, and many may have expected a 40 km race.
Following the formation of the IAAF in 1912, the first official world track records were established. British runner Harry Green achieved the fastest time for the Olympic marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km) on track in May 1908, clocking in at 2:38:16.2. Interestingly, the IAAF opted to ratify his 25-mile split of 2:29:29.4, breaking George Dunning’s longstanding record instead.
The reasoning behind prioritizing Green’s 25-mile time over his marathon result remains unclear. Yet, the 40 km/25-mile distance had been recognized as the marathon length globally. One might speculate that the amateur body, possibly unfamiliar with distance running, considered Green’s 25-mile achievement superior to professional runner Willie Kolehmainen’s 2:29:39.2 marathon time in 1912.
The 25-mile record remained in the IAAF books for years. In October 1934, Michele Fanelli of Italy set a new world record of 2:26:10.8, which persisted until the IAAF finally removed the event from its records in 1954. Frank Farmer broke Green’s British record in 1939, and in 1961, Danish runner Thyge Togerson set a national record of 2:15:30 for 40 km on track in Zaandam. The British Road Runners Club maintained records for the 25-mile event thereafter, with the current best held by Eric Austin at 2:10:48, achieved nearly forty years ago. More recently, John Cramer and Barney Klecker set U.S. national records for 25 miles at 2:28:50 and 2:15:56.9, respectively.
While widely recognized that Italian runner Dorando Pietri prompted the shift to what is now seen as an unlikely marathon distance, ironically, he qualified for the 1908 Olympics due to a 40 km track record.
Various factors led to the marathon’s extension to over 26 miles (42.195 km) in London in 1908. Pietri’s collapse near the stadium and the ensuing controversy over his disqualification for receiving assistance sparked a wave of lucrative professional marathon races, all adopting the same distance due to the associated controversy.
Despite the Marathon Craze, the following Olympic marathon in 1912 was set at 40.2 km. The 1920 race stretched to 42.75 km, and the current marathon distance of 42.195 km wasn’t established until 1924, when the International Olympic Committee decided that this distance would be standard for future Olympic marathons. The reason behind this choice remains unknown. It might have been a compromise between metric and imperial measures, or pressure from Anglo-Americans who had adopted the Dorando distance due to the prominence of professional events.
Consequently, the marathon’s origins primarily lie in the 25-mile/40 km distance. The longer distance received official recognition only in 1924, making it a distinctly different event, still known as the marathon, as it diverged from its historical roots. The blend of amateur and professional races, early official records, and professional histories shaped its future from the outset.
In conclusion, the marathon’s history reveals a complicated evolution influenced by various events and records that have transformed the race into what it is today, preserving the 25-mile distance at the forefront of its narrative.