A quick powerpoint of the History of the Marathon

1. The Story of Pheidippedes

2. Have you seen a sticker like this on
people’s cars?

3. • That’s a way that people have shown that they
have run in a marathon

4. The legend of the Marathon is this

5. The original distance of the Marathon race in
Greece in 1896 was:
24.8 miles!

6. So why was the distance changed?

7. At the 1908 Olympic games in London, the marathon distance was changed to 26 miles
With an extra 385 yards added on so the race could finish in front of King Edward Vii’s
Royal box. Because of this, the extra yardage was added to the official marathon distance
So now every marathon is 26.2 miles

8. Some scholars doubt the historic run
from Marathon to Athens ever
occurred
Some believe that Pheidippedes ran from
Athens to Sparta over 246 km in two days that
was in no way connected to Marathon.
But that would still be an impressive run

11. Even if it didn’t happen the way Herodotus said it did,
we have a cool reason to have a sticker on our cars

12. Works Cited
• Cummings, Denis. "The Myth of Pheidippides
and the Marathon." The Myth of Pheidippides
and the Marathon. N.p., 04 Nov. 2011. Web.
16 Feb. 2016.