Marathon
Rules
The marathon is the longest distance, which covers 42.195 kilometers (26 miles 385 yards). Marathon runners start and finish at the stadium. World records and other top achievements are recorded to the nearest second. The recommended height difference at an IAAF-certified distance should not exceed 1/1000, that is, one meter per kilometer run. The distance must be measured with an accuracy of 0.1% (42 meters).
History
According to legend, a Greek warrior named Phidippides (according to other sources — Philippides) in 490 BC. after the battle, he ran without stopping from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory of the Greeks. When he reached Athens, he managed to shout “Rejoice, Athenians, we have won!” and fell dead. According to To Herodotus, Pheidippides was a messenger unsuccessfully sent for reinforcements from Athens to Sparta and covered a distance of 230 km in less than two days. The legend that he ran from a Marathon to Athens, first appeared in Plutarch’s essay “The Glory of Athens” in the first century A.D. (more than 550 years after the actual events). In 1896, the International Olympic Committee measured the actual distance from the Marathon battlefield to Athens; it turned out to be 34.5 km. At the first Modern Games in 1896 and at the 2004 Games, marathon running actually took place along the distance laid from the Marathon to Athens. The first qualifying marathon was held in Greece, in which he won Charilaos Vasilakos, running the distance in 3 hours and 18 minutes. To the great joy of the Greek public Spyridon Louis, a Greek water carrier who finished fifth in the qualifying run, became the winner at the first Olympic Games with a result of 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds. The women’s marathon was first introduced into the program of the Summer Olympic Games (Los Angeles, USA) in 1984.
Interesting facts
The 42 km 195 meter run is the third stage in the Ironman triathlon competition. In 2003, the British Ranulph Fiennes ran 7 marathons in seven days in seven parts of the world and continents. In 2010, Belgian Stephaan Engels decided to run a marathon every day of the year. Having been injured in January, he “reset” the score and started again on February 5, 2010. On March 30, he beat the Spaniard’s achievement Ricardo Abad Martinez, who ran 150 marathons in 150 days in 2009. On February 5, 2011, Stephaan Engels ran the 365th marathon. On average, he spent 4 hours on a marathon, his best result was 2 hours 56 minutes. Ricardo Abad Martinez did not remain in debt. He ran 500 marathons in 500 days from October 1, 2010 to February 12, 2012. Johnny Kelly started 61 times in the Boston Marathon from 1928 to 1992, finished in 58 of them and won twice (in 1935 and 1945). December 31, 2010 Canadian from Alberta Martin Parnell, 55, a retired mine engineer, ran the marathon 250 times during the year, covering 10550 km, wearing 25 pairs of sneakers, at times at temperatures below minus 30oC.
Records
Men: Wilson Kipsang 2 h 3 min 23 s. The Berlin Marathon was Kenyan on September 29, 2013.
Women: Paula Radcliffe London Marathon on April 13, 2003 2 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds; this time is shown with the help of male pacemakers. The world’s best result among women without men, 2 h 17 min 42 sec, was also shown by Paula Radcliffe at the London Marathon on April 17, 2005.
