for the passionate and not so passionate, 42.195 could mean many things. just a number. a sport. a distance. a mountain. a challenge. or a life changing event. that is the distance you have to run on a marathon. 42.195km’s or 26 miles 385 yards. when around Male’ is little over than 5km’s, imagine how much of running it takes to cover that distance?
but how did this distance come to touch lives of many? continuing to do so, year by year.
well, that’s the purpose of this short article in this edition of runinmaldives magazine. we want to revisit the history books and learn a little.
and in we go reading the chapter called Pheidippides and the “Battle of Marathon”!
Pheidippides is a greek legend. he is the messenger who ran from the city of Marathon to the city of Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (in 490 B.C). like any piece of history, there’s often variations on the accuracy of the story. and this run from Pheidippides is no exception to the rule as well.
some historians agree (for instance the Greek historian Herodotus) that Pheidippides in fact ran more than the 40kms and was not necessarily from Marathon to Athens announcing victory. legend has it that he ran from Athens to Sparta (and back) asking for help and each way was more than 240kms (now that would most definitely have killed someone - and death it did to Pheidippides).
there’s another variation to the story of Pheidippides as well. it is in the route of Marathon to Athens where Mount Penteli lies. and if this route was taken, it seems he had to find his way around the mountain (either to the north or to the south). the latter has the distance of roughly 40kms and was revived in the 1896 Summer Olympics. this was the first known international event in which the 40km distance was named as a “marathon” and run from the city of Marathon to Athens!
1908 Olympics Games was held in London and marked the occassion when Queen of England actually gave birth to the modern marathons. the marathons that most love running. up until this time, the distances of marathons varied and most ran 40km distances. during 1908 games, the marathon had to ensure that it started from a historic point and ended just in front of the Royal seating areas marked inside the stadium. having started from Windsor Castle to a complete finish inside the White City stadium (right in front of Queen) meant that they had to add precisely 2 miles to the route. that was when the first modern marathon distance was run. and with heated debates thereafter, in 1924 the marathon distance of 26.2 miles became official, in Paris.
and now you know why its 26.2 miles. or 42.195km!
hail the queen of England!