Earlier today, I was thumbing through a website called Marathonguide.com or http://www.marathonguide.com. There was a section on the first recorded marathon in the world which happened 116 years ago. I’d like to share it with you.
On Feb. 15, 1896, G. Grigorou won the first marathon: the Greek Marathon Trials preceeding the first Olympics. No one was very impressed with his time of 3 hours 45 minutes and the Greeks held two more trials before choosing their team to participate in the Olympic Marathon.
The next two trials were held and six Greek athletes between the times of 3:11:27 and 3:19:15 were selected. On March 29, 1896 Julian (or April 10 – Gregorian), Spiridon Louis of Greece won the initial Olympic Marathon in a time of 2:58:50. The distance at the time was 40 kilometers or 24.85 miles.
