Respect the distance?

cfitz · 13-11-2008 12:31pm #1

I always had a romantic idea that the marathon distance was a lovely re-enactment of the journey made by the Greek soldier. The gesture is still a nice one, but the distance has been tinkered with a lot: http://www.runtex.com/web/1-1202.asp. I'm a bit disappointed really

6th · 13-11-2008 12:32pm

cfitz wrote: »

I always had a romantic idea that the marathon distance was a lovely re-enactment of the journey made by the Greek soldier. The gesture is still a nice one, but the distance has been tinkered with a lot: http://http://www.runtex.com/web/1-1202.asp. I'm a bit disappointed really

Link isnt working.

cfitz · 13-11-2008 1:08pm

6th wrote: »

Link isnt working.

Cheers, fixed it now.

Krusty_Clown · 13-11-2008 1:36pm

Didn't Marukami mention in his book that when you run from Marathon to Athens, it's only actually a distance of 25 miles, and they actually add an extra loop of a mile, in order to extend it?

Here's how the distance has changed, according to wikipedia:
Year Distance (km/miles)
1896 40.00/24.85
1900 40.26/25.02
1904 40.00/24.85
1906 41.86/26.01
1908 42.19/26.22
1912 40.20/24.98
1920 42.75/26.56
1924+ 42.19/26.22

You should thank the queen. Sure before that, it was too easy.