The 1908 Olympic marathon fixes 26 miles 385 yards
Fifty-five runners from 16 nations start at Windsor Castle and run to the White City Stadium in west London, finishing with 385 yards on the track in front of the royal box; 27 finish. The distance is 26 miles 385 yards, 42,194.988 m. Dorando Pietri enters the stadium first, collapses repeatedly and is helped up by officials; he is disqualified and Johnny Hayes, about 32 seconds behind, is declared the winner. The Olympic regulations had asked for a race of about 40 km, and the organising Polytechnic Harriers laid out a course about two kilometres longer. This is the race whose arbitrary length became the world standard.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The marathon distance (42.195 km / 26 miles 385 yards) · concept · not located
- Windsor Castle · site · United Kingdom
- White City Stadium · site · United Kingdom
- Dorando Pietri · person · Italy · not located
- London · city · United Kingdom
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Marathon, Men — 1908 Olympic Games, London
The 1908 Olympic marathon was run on 24 July 1908 from Windsor to the White City Stadium over 26 miles 385 yards, with 55 starters from 16 nations and 27 finishers; Dorando Pietri was disqualified and Johnny Hayes won. V55 verification basis: the Olympedia result page was identified through search and its substance read in summary; the database entry itself was not retrieved.
Olympedia · 1908-07-24 · Partly verified
https://www.olympedia.org/results/56369
The 1908 Marathon
The 1908 start was on the East Terrace at Windsor Castle rather than beneath a royal nursery window, the royal children were photographed outside on the lawn, and Olympic historians including Bob Wilcox have found no archival support for the nursery-window explanation of the 385 yards. V55 verification basis: read through attributed search summaries of this page and of secondary coverage of Wilcox's research; neither the page nor the underlying study was retrieved.
Windsor Local History Group · Partly verified
https://windsorlocalhistorygroup.org/the-1908-marathon/
Recorded on The marathon distance (42.195 km / 26 miles 385 yards)
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- Boston Tea Party
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- First Assam tea auctioned in London
- The Great Exhibition
- The 1908 Olympic marathon fixes 26 miles 385 yards
- The 1908 distance becomes the world standard
- Boston lengthens its course and moves the start to Hopkinton
- The first London Marathon
- Kelvin Kiptum runs 2:00:35 in Chicago
- Ruth Chepngetich runs 2:09:56 in Chicago
- Tigst Assefa sets a women-only world record in London
- The first sub-two-hour marathon in a record-eligible race
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The first sub-two-hour marathon in a record-eligible race · 2026-04-26
- Tigst Assefa sets a women-only world record in London · 2025
- Ruth Chepngetich runs 2:09:56 in Chicago · 2024-10-13
- Kelvin Kiptum runs 2:00:35 in Chicago · 2023-10-08
- The first London Marathon · 1981-03-29
- Boston lengthens its course and moves the start to Hopkinton · 1924
- The 1908 distance becomes the world standard · 1921
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