The London Marathon is a long-distance running event held in London, United Kingdom, part of the World Marathon Majors. The event was first run on 29 March 1981 and has been held in the spring of every year since. Since 2010, the race has been sponsored by Virgin Money.
John Joseph "Johnny" Hayes was an American athlete, a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of the marathon race at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Hayes' Olympic victory contributed to the early growth of long-distance running and marathoning in the United States. He was also the first man to win a marathon at the now official standard distance of 26 miles 385 yards when Olympic officials lengthened the distance to put the finish line in front of the Royal Box.
The Berlin Marathon is a major running and sporting event held annually in Berlin, Germany. The official marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers is set up as a citywide road race where professional athletes and amateur runners jointly participate. Initiated in 1974, the event traditionally takes place on the last weekend in September, with the exceptions of 2000, because of a conflict with the Olympic Marathon date, and 2018, held two weeks earlier due to Day of German Unity preparations.
Joseph Edmund "Joe" Deakin was a British athlete who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
Ian William Ridpath is an English science writer and broadcaster best known as a popularizer of astronomy and a biographer of constellation history. As a UFO sceptic, he investigated and explained the Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980.
The men's marathon race of the 1908 Summer Olympics took place in London on 24 July 1908. Johnny Hayes won after Dorando Pietri was disqualified for having received assistance before the finish line. For the first time in an Olympic marathon, the distance was 26 mi 385 yd (42.195 km), which would become the standard distance in 1921. 75 competitors entered the race, of whom 55 from 16 nations started, with 27 from 11 nations finishing.
Benjamin Basil Heatley was a British competitive long-distance runner, who was an Olympic marathon silver medallist and former world marathon record-holder. Although he favoured cross country running, he was also a skilled marathon runner and, despite running shoe technology being in its infancy, he was able to adapt easily to the change of conditions underfoot.
James Henry "Jim" Peters was a long-distance runner from England. He broke the world record for the men's marathon four times in the 1950s. He was the first runner to complete a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes – an achievement which was equated to the breaking of the four-minute mile. He achieved this at the Polytechnic Marathon of 1953, a point-to-point race from Windsor to Chiswick, West-London. Later the same year Peters set the first sub-2:20 clocking on an out-and-back course, at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands.
The 2012 Olympic Marathon Course is that of both the men's and women's marathon races at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.
Michael J. "Mike" Ryan was an American track and field athlete and a member of the Irish American Athletic Club. He was a distance runner and competed in the Marathon for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics, but did not finish either race.
The Polytechnic Harriers was founded by philanthropist Quintin Hogg in 1883. He was a firm believer in the health-giving and character-building qualities of sport. He also enjoyed taking part in them; especially playing football. He provided the facilities for a range of different sports and actively encouraged members to participate. They were open clubs and the membership was wider than the student body. The Polytechnic Harriers were formed in 1883, they were known for four years as the Hanover United AC, and were the athletics arm of Quintin Hogg's Regent Street Polytechnic.
Albert "Al" Raines was an American long-distance runner who is recognized as having set a world's best in the marathon on May 8, 1909, with a time of 2:46:04 3-5 at the Bronx Marathon. Described as a former member of the Xavier Athletic Association, he won the race by over a mile. Raines competed in at least five marathons and a 20 miler in a three-month period from February 8, 1909, to May 31, 1909. On February 8, 1909, he won an "amateur marathon" in Brooklyn, New York, and on My 8th he won the Bronx Amateur Marathon.
Violet Stewart Louisa Piercy was an English long-distance runner who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set the first women's world best in the marathon on 3 October 1926 with a time of 3:40:22. Piercy was reported to have run unofficially and her mark was set on the Polytechnic Marathon course between Windsor and London.
Len Hurst was renowned as a British long-distance athlete, both running and pedestrianism, although he started life as a brick-maker, and spent his last 29 years as a pub landlord.
The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics.
John Bryan Herring, was a British athlete who ran in the 1964 Summer Olympic Games. He was assistant director of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, a member of the London Marathon organising team and a long-time member of Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletic Club.
The Chris Brasher Sporting Life Trophy is a trophy that is awarded annually to the elite male and female winners of the London Marathon. It was previously awarded to the winners of the Polytechnic Marathon between 1909 and 1961 which was staged between Windsor in Berkshire and various locations in London.
