Official distance is 42.195 KM/ 26 miles 385 yards
there was a greek messenger who had to run 26.2 miles to deliver a message that was really urgent, he ran there and back, and after he died. his name was some version of marathon
Aahhhh.... my imperialist mind converts this to 26 miles or thereabouts ! Marathon ! Nope, its got nothing to do with the run from the battle to Athens by Euripides or Socrates or whoever it was. When the Olympic games came to London the distance was measured from Windsor Castle to White City and that was how far they ran & that was the distance run in the Marathon ever since !
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometers (26 miles 385 yards) that is usually run as a road race. The event is named after the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. It was one of the original Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921.
The London marathon ( I am watching it on TV as I type this !) starts on Blackheath in SE London. It is run over 26 miles 385 yards. This distance has nothing to do with Phidipides & the battle of Marathon. It was the distance run from Windsor to White city in the London Olympics in 1908.
21,097.5 metres (half the distance of a normal marathon).
A standard marathon (since 1924) is 26 miles, 385 yards, or about 26.22 miles. This is equal to 42.195 kilometers, the official Olympic standard. (*Courses may add additional distance of up to 42 meters, or 1 meter per kilometer, to assure that the distance actually run is not shorter than the IAAF standard.)
A marathon is 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers).
Half Marathon running is a rare bird really, sort of betwixt and between the 10K and marathon distances. Because its not an Olympic or national championship distance, few distance runners specialize in it. Yet the 13.1-miler has gained great popularity in the past decade demanding half marathon training schedules specific to this event.
The Marathon run commemorates the run of 18,000 Athenian soldiers, who ran back the 26 miles to Athens after defeating the Persian infantry at Marathon, in order to defend the city against an attack by the Persian cavalry which was being shipped around to Athens by sea while the Athenian army was engaged at Marathon.
The word marathon comes from Greece. After a war a man ran the 26 odd miles to deliver the message that they had won a war, he uttered the message and then collapsed and then died. In memory of this man a marathon is run the exact distance he ran.
The Exact Length of a Marathon During the first several modern Olympics, the marathon was always an approximate distance. In 1908, the British royal family requested that the marathon start at the Windsor Castle so that the royal children could witness its start. The distance from the Windsor Castle to the Olympic Stadium was 42,195 meters (or 26 miles and 385 yards). In 1924, this distance became the standardized length of a marathon. Taken from Runner's World http://www.runnersworld.co.za/static/jumpstart.php?js_id=7
The Marathon run commemorates the run of 18,000 Athenian soldiers, who ran back the 26 miles to Athens after defeating the Persian infantry at Marathon, in order to defend the city against an attack by the Persian cavalry which was being shipped around to Athens by sea while the Athenian army was engaged at Marathon.