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Helou!
Ker je bilo enkrat nekaj govora (ki pa je na žalost zamrl) o zgodovini maratona, sem malo pobrskal in našel nekaj dejstev o njem.
Zelo kratek opis bi bil takle: Leta 490 p.n.š. je legendarni tekač Filipid do Aten pritekel z novico o zmagi Atencev nad Perzijci pri Maratonskem polju. O tem, kaj točno se je dogajalo, in kdo točno je tekel, in koliko točno so tekli pa se še zmeraj "kregajo" v akademskih krogih.
Z modernimi OI se je rodila tudi zamisel o maratonskem teku, kot spominu na legendarnega Filipida in njegovem podvigu. Razdalja od Marathona do Aten je manj kot 40 km, zato so danes veljavno razdaljo določili leta 1908 na OI v Londonu kot razdaljo med Windsorskim kraljevim dvorcem in olimpijskem stadionom, to je 42,195km.

On a hot Summer's day in 490 BC the Greek legend Philippides ran 26 hilly miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news that the Athenian Army defeated the Persians. Totally exhausted, he died after the good news reached the city.
Herodotos, the oldest source, wrote that Philippides was sent before the battle at Marathon to Sparta for militar aid. He ran 200 km in two days. Herodotos then wrote that the whole Athen army ran after the battle back to the city, not one single messager! Further in 300 BC. the tradition about the loneley marathon runner developed. Herakleides Pontikos (philosophe) told that a man named Thersippos, fully armed, ran with the message about the victory to Athen, and then finally died. These two persons have probably been mixed by a writer named Lucianus (100 AC.) when he tells the story again.
While this account is almost certainly fictionalized, it has inspired a great International sporting event, the Marathon. The first winner of the marathon in the Olympic Games was a Greec, Spiridon Louis.
When the Olympic games were revived in 1894, Michel Breal, a philologist at the Sorbonne, thought it would be a good idea to have a race commemorating the Pheidippides legend - a 26 mile race from Marathon to Athens. At just before 2:00 PM on April 10, 1896, the fifth and final day of the Games, twenty-five runners stood at the starting line by the Battle of the Marathon's warrior tomb in Athens. A hundred thousand spectators, many holding wine and bread for the runners, lined Marathon Road. After 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds the 23 years old Spiridon Louis won, seven minutes before the second, also a Greec, Vasilakos and the Greec Velocas. But the Hongarian runner Kellner said he didn't have seen passing Velocas. After research Velocas was disqualified because he did a part of the distance on a car with horse. The winner received a silver medal, a certificate and a laurel-wreath. Spiridon Louis died in 1940.
In 1948, during the first Olympic Games after WWII in London, the Belgian runner Etienne Gailly, running his first marathon, entered the history of the Games. Arrived first in the stadium, he still had to do 400 m, Gailly fell down, exhausted, went up again, fell down again, staggered until the finish, encouraged by the crowd. He was passed by two competitors who thought the race was lost : for 400 m after more than 40 kilometres, he had to be satisfied with the bronze medal. 95 countries participated with in total 4099 runners.

vir: http://www.ping.be/~ping6197/History.html

A marathon is a foot race with a distance of 26 miles and 285 yards. (26.2 miles) The marathon's distance was chosen to duplicate the distance run by a Greek soldier from the town of Marathon to Athens in 490 BC to bring the news of a Greek victory over the Persians. The Marathon-Athens distance is actually less than 40 km (25 mi). The modern distance was established at the 1908 Olympic Games in London and represents the distance from the royal castle at Windsor to the Olympic stadium.

vir: http://www.sonic.net/~bckrose/marathonw ... tm#History

HISTORY OF THE MARATHON

by Dan Graetzer

Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Montana / Missoula


The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier
Pheidippides from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens
in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians.
Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run,
thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the
marathon.
When the Olympic games were inaugurated in 1896 in Greece,
the legend of Pheidippides was revived by a 24.85 mile (40,000
meters) run from Marathon Bridge to Olympic stadium in Athens.
Traditionally the final event in the Olympics, the first organ-
ized marathon on April 10, 1896 was especially important to the
Greeks. Greece was hosting the first Olympics, had yet to win a
medal, and had one final chance to bring glory to their nation.
Twenty-five runners assembled on Marathon Bridge, the starter
mumbled a few words and fired the gun, and the race was on. "The
excitement of the crowd waiting at the finish line at the ancient
but refurbished Panathenaic Stadium was beyond description"
writes the Greek historian Quercetani. Spiridon Louis, a Greek
postal worker from village of Marusi and veteran of several long
military marches, crossed the finish line a full seven minutes
ahead of the pack. His time was 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds
for the 40 kilometer distance (average pace of 7:11 minutes per
mile). When it was all over - nine runners finished (8 of them
Greeks), the host nation was ecstatic, and the marathon was born.
The United States was one of 9 nations at the 1896 Athens
Olympics thanks to sponsorship of athletes by the Boston Athletic
Association. Middle distance runner Arthur Blake was the only
American to enter the first marathon. Blake won a silver medal
in the 1500 meters 3 days before the marathon but unfortunately
this left him exhausted and he dropped out after about 14.5
miles. The seed was planted, however, and organization for North
America's first marathon began on the boat back to United States.
The first annual Boston Athletic Association marathon was
conducted on April 19, 1897, the date chosen to commemorate the
famous ride of Paul Revere in 1775. The topography of the 24.7
mile course (Metcalfe's Mill in Ashland, MASS to Boston's Irving-
ton St. Oval) was remarkably similar to the Athens course,
although about 250 meters shorter. Fifteen runners started the
original Boston marathon race (8 finished) with John J. McDermott
winning the 39,751 meter distance in 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 10
seconds (average pace of 7:05 minutes per mile).
At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance
was changed to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castle
to White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race could
finish in front of King Edward VII's royal box. After 16 years
of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was esta-
blished at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon
distance. Boston Athletic Association officials, attempting to
comply with Olympic standards, also adjusted their course dis-
tance in 1924 but were devastated when it was discovered a few
years later that the Boston course was 161 meters short. This
situation was immediately corrected, but records for a full
42,195 meter marathon can officially only be taken from Boston
marathons after 1927.
Modern ultra-events such as Hawaii's Iron Man Triathalon (2-
mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile marathon) have shown that
athletes are no longer satisfied with simply running a "mere"
marathon. If a "simple" marathon is conducted, events such as
Colorado's Pikes Peak marathon (which climbs 7,700 feet to the
summit of 14,110 foot Pikes Peak) have been designed to present
more of a challenge. An interesting recent trend is that more
and more people you never thought even knew how to run are lining
up at marathon starting lines. Because elite marathoners gen-
erally run their best times at age 32 to 34, more and more "thir-
tysomething" weekend warriors are now giving it a try. This
craze probably began in 1984 when Steve Jones of Whales broke Al-
berto Salazar's world record while running his first marathon.
During the monumental 1984 America's marathon in Chicago, Steve
Jones ran the 26.2 mile distance for first time during either
training or competition in 2 hours 8 minutes, and 5 seconds
(average pace of 4:55 per mile). This eclipsed Salazar's record
of 2:08.13 which most experts thought would stand for several
years. For you rookies, jogging a full marathon without walking
or stopping can generally be done in about 4 hours so I recommend
you use that as your goal and check your pacing appropriately at
the 5 mile splits. If you feel especially grandiose as you line
up for the St. George or the Deseret News races this summer, you
may want to go after the current world records. Belaine Densimo
of Ethiopia set the current men's world record in 1988 at 2:06.50
while the current women's record was set in 1985 by Ingrid Kris-
tiansen of Norway in 2:21:06. If you feel you only want to try
to break the American record - for men it is 2:08:40 by Alberto
Salazar (1981) and for women it is 2:22:21 by Joan Benoit Samuel-
son (1985).
The incredible feat of running 26.2 miles while averaging
less than 5 minutes per mile have motivated several interesting
research studies of marathon runners. Medical research in this
area began in the late 1920's in the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory
under the direction of Dr. D.B. Dill. Exercise studies were con-
ducted having athletes breath through a mouthpiece and respirato-
ry gas analysis system developed by Dr. J.S. Haldane and Dr. P.F.
Scholander. The introduction of computer controlled equipment in
the 1980's has made data collection easier but has not improved
on the accuracy of the original equipment.
One marathoner that was tested repeatedly at the Harvard Fa-
tigue Laboratory was Clarence DeMar (also known as Mr. Marathon).
A superb physical specimen, DeMar won his 7th Boston Marathon at
age 42 and continued to compete strongly until age 66. DeMar
spent many hours on the Harvard Fatigue Lab treadmill, thus pro-
viding the first scientific descriptions of the physiologic
stressors involved during marathon competition. Based upon his
data, conditioning guidelines for marathon training were
developed and the rapidly- growing fields of exercise science and
sports medicine were born.
In my current position as director of the Human Performance
Laboratory at the University of Montana, I give treadmill tests,
check percent body fat, and analyze blood chemistry for lactate
and overtraining for marathoners who are preparing for competi-
tion. The best advice I give to marathoners who come in for
testing is not to crash across the finish line and sprawl on the
ground like you see on television - Pheidippides death reveals
the need for a proper cool down.

vir: http://ctc.coin.org/marathon.html

Kar precej zajetno branje po poglavjih pa najdete na tejle strani:
http://www.marathonguide.com/history/index.cfm