Published: Nov 1, 2022 by Bertland Hope

How did Marathons originate?

The modern marathon has it’s origin story in ancient Greece. A messenger named Philippides was tasked with bringing news of the Battle of Marathon to Athens, approximately 25 miles away. Once he reached the Acropolis and gave them the news that the Greeks had won, he died.

Fast forward to the 1896 Olympic games in Athens, and they decided to have a race retracing Philippides steps. So they organized a 25 mile race from Marathon to Athens and called it the “Marathon”

From there the distance fluctuated a bit between 24.85 miles and 26.56 miles as it was determined by the course set out by the organizers. But in 1908 during the London Olympics, they were going to have a 25 mile race, but the organizers decided to change the route to run past the Royal Box so they ended up with 26.2. After that there was still some fluctuation, until 1921 when the standard was set based upon the 1908 Olympic marathon distance.