Isn't the marathon measured in full miles?

This thread is so full of crap. Everybody knows Pheidippides wore a Garmin during his run back from the Battle of Marathon. The distance was accurately calculated by the Greek satellites.

And he did it in trainers.

Nope. It's measured in Badger miles.

Every Jones Counter I've ever seen is calibrated in feet and inches and since that's still the standard device for course certification ...

Well done Mr. Shrubb!

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"Every Jones Counter I've ever seen is calibrated in feet and inches and since that's still the standard device for course certification ..."

For us measuring "nerds" that might be the most rediculous post of all times!

The Jones Counter is just a "relative" mechanical counter. It can be calibrated to any units: feet, yards, meters,..., or even smoots!

All the measurers outside of the US (and there are many) use meters

u mean "full miles" vs "the mile" (i.e. 1600m)?

So if US high school coaches ran a marathon, it would be 26.1895 * 1600m = 41.90km

far out...

David Katz wrote:

Well done Mr. Shrubb!

+

"Every Jones Counter I've ever seen is calibrated in feet and inches and since that's still the standard device for course certification ..."

For us measuring "nerds" that might be the most rediculous post of all times!

The Jones Counter is just a "relative" mechanical counter. It can be calibrated to any units: feet, yards, meters,..., or even smoots!

All the measurers outside of the US (and there are many) use meters

So, a marathon is how many smoots?

joho wrote:

So, a marathon is how many smoots?

Easy to figure out since we know one smoot= exactly 2 herns and a grouple.

One smoot eguals 1.70 meters of 5 feet 7 inches in 'merican measures.

you can look it up!

I thought Mary Princess of Wales, wanted the race begin by the East Terrace at Windsor Castle under her windows so her children would not have to be exposed to the crowds of commoners that gathered near the start of such races.

I also thought the race had been maped to measure 40 km but a change in the route due to an newly erected electric trolly route necessitated a detour bringing it to longer than 40Km and then the extra distance to the balcony of Winsor Castle was added. It was not until 1923 or24 that he IAAF set the '08OGs distance as the "Official Marathon Distance"

Voice of reason wrote:

Anyone can run 26 miles. It is the last .2 miles that define a true man (or woman).

I like to call the last .2 "the sprint finish".

I know it’s a bit long - but this is an article about the history written by John Bryant in the Times.

A century ago, in 1908, vast crowds turned out to witness London's first marathon. They packed the roads and the streets between Windsor Castle and the new Olympic stadium that had been built (on time and on budget) in Shepherd's Bush.

On a scorching day, curiosity and excitement guaranteed marathon frenzy.

Some wanted to catch the spectacle of a freak show, of men attempting the impossible. Many shared a horrible fascination with watching humans push themselves to complete exhaustion.

The men who tackled that marathon were pioneers.

They were the first to experience what has now become a magical distance - one that the whole marathon world is celebrating after 100 years.

But these early explorers were venturing into the unknown.

Before 1908 there was no set distance for the marathon; it was simply a long race around 40km (just short of 25 miles).

The event had been modelled on the suggestion of a French academic who suggested a run from the battlefield of Marathon to the refurbished Olympic stadium in Athens would bring a flavour of ancient Greece to the modern Games.

The Olympic marathon distance in Athens in 1896 was 40,000 metres; in Paris 1900 it was 40,260 metres; and in St Louis 1904, 40,232 metres.

Every time a marathon was run, the distance would be different.

But that was to be changed by a force even more potent than that of the founding father of the Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, at the 1908 Games - and one that attracted far more attention.

It was the British Royal Family.

And it was the influence of the monarchy that gave rise to so many colourful stories - some fact, some legend - that link this marathon and the debate over its odd distance, to the Royal Family.

It was almost by chance that the Olympics had shipped up in London at all.

The fourth modern Games were scheduled for Rome.

But even a century ago the cost of the Olympics could make economies groan, and in 1906 the Italian government feared the Games would bankrupt them.

The crunch for the Italian authorities was an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906. They announced they would have to pull out.

The Olympics were plunged into crisis with just two years to go before the next opening ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee turned to the British, then in the heyday of imperial power, ruler of almost a quarter of the globe and renowned as the cradle of modern sport.

The British announced they could take over the Olympics and had just the man to do it.

Lord Desborough was the epitome of the 19th-century gentleman amateur. President of athletics and rowing at Oxford, he stroked an eight across the Channel and fenced in the Olympics.

He romped up the Matterhorn three times and swam twice across the Niagara Falls.

He styled himself Punting Champion of All- England.

As a war correspondent in the Sudan in 1888 he once confronted the advancing enemy alone, armed only with an umbrella.

With enormous self-confidence, Desborough declared that these were going to be the greatest Olympic Games ever, and proceeded to mastermind the event without asking for a penny of public money.

Thanks to the dominance of Lord Desborough, and a close friendship with King Edward VII, the influence of the monarchy could be witnessed everywhere.

The King often stayed with Lord and Lady Desborough at Taplow, near Reading.

He was a regular at Desborough's shooting parties and had installed his favourite mistress, the sensual Lillie Langtry, just a stimulating walk from Desborough's home. The King's enthusiasm for the prospect of the Olympics shifting to London was crucial for Britain and his enchantment with the Olympics, and the marathon in particular, was evident.

As Desborough and King Edward toyed with the idea of the Games coming to London, many wondered how to produce a memorable echo of the race from Marathon to Athens. Runnymede, perhaps, might be the English equivalent of Marathon, dripping with history and tradition? Or nearby Windsor, home of the great castle, could offer the right distance?

The task of masterminding the route was given to Jack Andrew, the honorary secretary of the Polytechnic Harriers and a representative on the AAA committee, and a series of trial races were run. On April 25, 1908, there was a trial from Windsor to Wembley which clearly carried more significance than any previous rehearsal, both for the distance and the route.

It started in the Long Walk of Windsor Park. The end of the first mile was on Barnespool Bridge, where the only surviving marker from the 1908 Olympic race still tells you that there are 25 miles to go.

The programme that day states: “It is hoped that the King will graciously consent to the start being made from the terrace of the historic Castle, in which event the distance will be about 26 miles to the edge of the Stadium track.”

That hope became reality and on July 24 the press noted that: “The actual starting point for today's race is just below the East Terrace, Windsor Castle, near the bronze figure of Dako (Queen Victoria's favourite dog, a Scottish terrier) who was buried there.”

For the Royal Family the prospect of letting the children of the Princess of Wales see the start of the marathon in the castle grounds must have been virtually irresistible.

The marathon was always planned to finish close to the Royal Box, and to bring the runners into the stadium would add another 385 yards on the cinder track.

The course took in cobblestones and dirt and dusty tracks but the measurement of the 26 miles 385 yards had been done thoroughly, with Andrew and his surveyors using wheels and Ordnance Survey maps to check the distance. However, the change in the starting location - the move from the Long Walk to the Eastern Terrace of the castle - may have introduced yet another twist into the debate about the distance.

John Disley, the co-founder with Chris Brasher of today's London Marathon, believes that when the start was moved the accuracy of the earlier measurement of the course was jeopardised.

He reckons the organisers may have got their calculations wrong.

By using maps and contemporary photographs Disley used 21st-century methods of remeasuring that first mile to Barnespool Bridge.

His conclusion is that the first mile - and hence the marathon course - was 174 yards (159m) short.

For the next two Olympics the distance continued to vary but the “London distance” was officially adopted in 1921.

The “London distance” may have seemed crazy, almost accidentally arrived at.

But what guaranteed it would live on and become the standard for future marathons was the frenzy that surrounded the 1908 finish where the Italian, Dorando Pietri, collapsed five times on the track, was put back on his feet but disqualified for receiving assistance.

The man who finished 32 seconds behind him, Johnny Hayes, of the United States, was awarded the gold medal, while Dorando collected a gold cup from the hands of Queen Alexandra.

The controversial finish, and the headlines, pictures and flickering film of the drama, stamped on this race for decades its image as a “man-killer” event.

After the struggle of 1908, the marathon story was far too good to end at the tape.

Looks like it is about 26.37 1600m segments.

What is that .37 all about?

Every marathon I've ever run was measured in kilometers. I guess full kilometers, and also metric kilometers, now that I think about it. Usually they say 42.2km. And I notice their is still a .2 !?!?! Maybe you're on to something.

Roadsofpapa wrote:

It is isn't it? Is it? What is that .2 all about?

Off the Grid wrote:

u mean "full miles" vs "the mile" (i.e. 1600m)?

So if US high school coaches ran a marathon, it would be 26.1895 * 1600m = 41.90km

far out...

The US is the only place on earth that use the meaningless distances of 1600m and 3200m.

Alan

c'mon, people. you know this.

the marathon is measured as 28 metric miles, with .13 of a metric mile at the end to avoid a tree blocking princess mary's view of the finish.

trivial, but that .13 caused all the problems with dorando.

42,195/1500 = 28.13