50 Fun Facts About Marathon

The official marathon distance is 42.195 kilometres. In miles, that is roughly what?

More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, most of them fields of recreational runners.

The 42.195 km distance was standardised by the IAAF in 1921 based on the course of which Olympic Games?

That course ran from Windsor Castle to the White City Stadium and finished in front of the Royal Box.

The 1908 Olympic marathon started at which royal residence?

Organisers chose a 26-mile route to the stadium plus a lap of the track, which is where the extra 385 yards come from.

Which French philologist proposed an Olympic marathon for 1896, inspired by an ancient Greek story?

The marathon is the only running road race contested at both the Olympics and the World Championships.

Per Herodotus, Pheidippides ran from Athens to which city before the Battle of Marathon?

That is about 240 km each way; the famous Marathon-to-Athens death run only appears in much later versions such as Lucian's and Robert Browning's poem.

Spyridon Louis, winner of the first modern Olympic marathon in 1896, made his living how?

He was born in Marousi, north of Athens, and helped his father haul mineral water into a city with no central supply.

Dorando Pietri crossed the line first at the 1908 Olympic marathon but was disqualified. Why?

Queen Alexandra gave him a gilded silver cup in consolation, and Arthur Conan Doyle wrote up his collapse for the Daily Mail.

The Boston Marathon, first run in 1897, is traditionally held on which holiday?

It is the world's oldest annual marathon and was inspired by the 1896 Olympic race.

The Boston Marathon starts in which Massachusetts town?

The course passes through eight cities and towns before finishing at Copley Square beside the Boston Public Library.

Who was the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon, in 1966, without an official number?

The B.A.A. now recognises her as the pre-sanctioned women's winner of 1966, 1967 and 1968.

Which race official tried to rip off Kathrine Switzer's bib at the 1967 Boston Marathon?

She had entered as 'K.V. Switzer'; her boyfriend body-checked the official and she finished the race.

Rosie Ruiz was stripped of her 1980 Boston Marathon women's title after it emerged she had joined the course roughly where?

New York officials then found she had not run their whole 1979 race either, and disqualified her from that too.

How many people were killed by the two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon?

Hundreds were injured; the devices went off 12 seconds and 210 yards apart near the finish line.

How many runners finished the first New York City Marathon in 1970, run as loops of Central Park?

Fred Lebow and Vincent Chiappetta organised it for 127 starters and about 100 spectators; Gary Muhrcke won in 2:31:38.

Norway's Grete Waitz won the New York City Marathon women's race how many times?

In 1979 there she became the first woman to break two and a half hours; she took Olympic silver in 1984.

The first London Marathon in 1981 was founded by John Disley and which Olympic steeplechase champion?

The first men's race ended in a tie, with Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen crossing the line holding hands.

How many times had the men's marathon world record fallen in Berlin by the end of 2025?

The flat course produced Kipchoge's 2:01:09 in 2022 and Tigst Assefa's women's mark of 2:11:53 in 2023.

Which Brazilian became the only South American to hold the marathon world record, in Berlin in 1998?

Three years later Naoko Takahashi ran the first women's sub-2:20 on the same course.

The modern Chicago Marathon began in 1977 under a name honouring which politician?

It drew 4,200 runners that first year; only 1987 (half marathon only) and 2020 have interrupted it since.

The World Marathon Majors series began in which year?

Sydney joined as the seventh race in 2025 and Cape Town was confirmed as the eighth for 2027.

Which city's marathon became the newest of the original Marathon Majors when it launched in 2007?

It is run in February; Benson Kipruto's 2:02:16 in 2024 is the course record.

Eliud Kipchoge ran the marathon distance in 1:59:40 in October 2019 in which city?

The Ineos 1:59 Challenge in the Prater park was not record-eligible; his official best is 2:01:09 from Berlin 2022.

Kelvin Kiptum's men's world record, set in Chicago in October 2023, was what time?

He died in a car crash in Kenya four months later, aged 24.

Ruth Chepngetich became the first woman under 2:10 in Chicago in 2024. What was her time?

Tigst Assefa's 2:11:53 in Berlin 2023 was the previous mark; Paula Radcliffe's 2:15:25 had stood from 2003 to 2019.

Paula Radcliffe's 2003 London world record, which stood for 16 years, was what time?

She won London three times and New York three times but never an Olympic medal.

Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Rome Olympic marathon with what famous distinction?

His new shoes gave him blisters, so he ditched them; four years later in Tokyo he became the first to defend the title.

Emil Zátopek won the 5,000 m, 10,000 m and marathon at which Olympics, the marathon being his first?

No one has repeated the treble; his wife Dana won javelin gold at the same Games.

The first Olympic women's marathon was held in 1984 in Los Angeles. Who won it?

She beat Waitz by 1 minute 26 seconds; 44 of the 50 starters finished.

At which Games did Frank Shorter win the 1972 Olympic marathon, helping launch the US running boom?

He was born in Munich to an American army doctor, so he won on the soil of his birthplace.

Which American won the 2014 Boston Marathon, the year after the bombing?

He was 38 and had also won New York in 2009 and Olympic silver in 2004.

Haile Gebrselassie's 2008 Berlin world record, the first under 2:04, was what time?

He was the first man under 2:04, having taken the record from himself a year after his 2:04:26 on the same course.

Runners typically 'hit the wall' at roughly what point in a marathon?

The wall is glycogen depletion in the liver and muscles; carb-loading and mid-race fuelling are how you avoid it.

The Comrades Marathon, the world's oldest and largest ultra, runs between Durban and which city?

Founded in 1921, it alternates each year between the 'up' run and the slightly longer 'down' run of about 90 km.

The Marathon des Sables is a six-stage race of about 250 km through which desert?

Competitors carry their own food and gear; it has been held since 1986.

The Great Wall Marathon course in China includes roughly how many stone steps?

Held on the Huangyaguan section near Tianjin since 1999, it mixes about 30 km on the wall itself with rubble, gravel and missing steps.

Fauja Singh, who claimed marathons past age 100, ran his 5:40 marathon best in which city?

None of his age-group marks were ratified because he had no birth certificate; he died in a hit-and-run in Punjab in 2025.

In 1976 the New York City Marathon expanded from Central Park loops to how many boroughs?

It now has more than 200,000 applicants a year and over 59,000 finishers.

The first Berlin women's sub-2:20, in 2001, was run by which Japanese athlete?

Her 2:19:46 came a year after her Sydney Olympic gold.

How many competitors ran the first London Marathon in 1981?

6,255 finished; the race now has more than 30,000 runners, many in fancy dress for charity.

The Boston Marathon finishes at which location, next to the Boston Public Library?

The first six miles from Hopkinton are downhill, which is part of why the Newton hills hurt so much later.

Which two runners tied the first London Marathon men's race in 1981, crossing the line hand in hand?

Their time was 2:11:48; Beardsley went on to the famous 'Duel in the Sun' with Alberto Salazar at Boston in 1982.

Who won the first Boston Marathon in 1897, leading a field of just 15 runners?

He ran 2:55:10 over a 24.5-mile course from Metcalf's Mill in Ashland to the Irvington Oval in Boston.

How many entrants made the 1996 centennial Boston Marathon the world's largest at the time?

Of those, 36,748 started and 35,868 finished; more than 500,000 spectators line the route each year.

Which astronaut ran the 2007 Boston Marathon as an official entrant aboard the ISS?

She was the first person to run a marathon in space and later received a special bib and medal flown up on Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Bob Hall pioneered Boston's wheelchair division in 1975 by finishing in what time?

Race director Will Cloney had promised to recognise him as an official finisher only if he beat 3:30; the same year saw the first women's masters division.

How many times did father-and-son duo Dick and Rick Hoyt enter the Boston Marathon?

Rick had cerebral palsy; Team Hoyt began with charity runs after a computer device revealed his passion for sports.

Where do Wellesley College students form the famous 'Scream Tunnel' along the Boston course?

For roughly a quarter mile the students scream and offer kisses; runners say the noise carries a mile.

By how much did Eliud Kipchoge break the world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon?

His 2:01:39 beat Dennis Kimetto's 2:02:57 from 2014, the biggest improvement in the record for decades.

Whom did an 18-year-old Kipchoge outsprint to win 5000 m gold at the 2003 World Championships?

He won by four-hundredths of a second in 12:52.79, beating the reigning 1500 m and mile world record holder.

On which Formula 1 circuit did Nike stage the Breaking2 sub-two-hour attempt in May 2017?

Kipchoge ran with Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa in the assisted attempt, two years before his 1:59:40 in Vienna.