Sports Med 2007; 37 (4-5): 284-287CONFERENCE PAPER 0112-1642/07/0004-0284/$44.95/0

© 2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.

The History of the Marathon1976–Present

Amby Burfoot

Runner’s World Magazine, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, USA

Since the 1976 New York City Marathon, the first ‘urban tour’ marathon, theAbstractsport has exploded on a global basis. Once limited largely to the Olympics, theBoston Marathon and several others, marathons are now held worldwide, withdozens of major cities holding races that attract upwards of 15 000 participants.The growth of women’s and masters’ age group (>40 years old) marathon racinghas been particularly startling

At the 1976 meeting, David Martin and col- of four straight victories in 2:10:10. This somewhatleagues delivered an astonishingly complete record made up for his disappointing 40th place finish inof the marathon to that point. Since 1976, the event the Montreal Olympic Marathon.has exploded beyond anyone’s capacity to chronicle 1978: A Norwegian track star named Grete Waitzit worldwide. Several popular publications[1-11] have ran the NYC Marathon only because it offered hermade it easier to follow the major events. This and her husband Jack a free trip to New York. Shediscussion will focus on the development of the won easily in a world record 2:32:30, crushing themarathon over the last 30 years through the recent previous women’s record by an astounding 2 hourshistory of the New York City (NYC), Olympic, and 18 minutes in her first marathon attempt. AfterBoston, Comrades, London and Chicago Mara- finishing, she immediately said “Never again.”thons. These races illustrate how the marathon has 1980: Waitz set her third world record in a row,evolved from an Olympic competition to a world- lowering the marathon best to 2:25:43. She wouldwide social and fitness phenomenon. Participation eventually win the NYC Marathon nine times. In hisof female and masters runners in the marathon will marathon debut, Alberto Salazar won the first of hisalso be addressed. three straight NYC Marathons in 2:09:41, ending

Bill Rodger’s 4-year streak at the top.1. The New York City 1987: Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya became the firstMarathon: 1976–Present East African to win a major US marathon. He would

win Boston the following April for the first of threeFred Lebow had been overseeing the NYC Mara- times.

thon in Central Park since 1970, but in 1976 heintroduced the five-borough event that changed the

2. The Olympic Marathon: 1976–Presentmarathon forever. Following New York City’s lead,hundreds of important cities worldwide began andcontinue to host annual urban marathons. After other marathons around the world proved

1976: The inaugural citywide tour attracted 2090 that women could safely run 42km, the Internationalrunners, including Bill Rodgers, who won the first Olympic Committee organised its first marathon for

Marathon History: 1976–2006 285

women in 1984. The women’s Olympic Marathon 4. The Comradeshas been a highlight ever since. Marathon: 1921–Present

1976 and 1980: East Germany’s WaldemarCierpinski won successive Olympic Marathon titles, Cut off from much of the world for many yearsmatching the achievement of Abebe Bikila before by distance and politics, South Africa has held thehim. However, Cierpinski’s medals will always be world’s most famous ultra marathon race sinceconsidered the product of a massive East German 1921. Among the amazing characteristics of thestate-sponsored doping effort. Comrades Marathon are its 90km long course, at-

1984: Joan Benoit won the first Olympic Mara- tracting thousands of runners and reversing direc-thon for women, ahead of an impressive field that tion every year. Comrades also awards gold, silverincluded Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota and Ingrid Kris- and bronze medals to finishers, depending on theirtiansen. times, and colour-coded numbers to signify those

1996: Fatuma Roba became the first African who have completed 10 Comrades, or 20, and so on.woman to win an Olympic Marathon, making her These numbers are very highly prized.Ethiopia’s female equivalent of Abebe Bikila, who

1921: The first race was held in 1921, with 34won so brilliantly in 1960 and 1964. In the previousrunners starting the course that climbed 2200 feetthree women’s Olympic Marathons, no African hadthrough the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The racefinished in the top eight.began in Durban and finished in Pietermaritzburg.2000 and 2004: The last two women’s Olympic

Marathons have been won by Japanese runners, 1922: The amazing Arthur ‘Greatheart’ Newtonmaking the list of female marathon winners as mul- began training with a 2-mile jog on 1 January 1922,ti-hued as the world population. increased his efforts progressively over the next 5

months and won the 1922 race.3. The Boston Marathon: 1976–Present

1923: A female runner, Frances Hayward, com-pleted the uphill course in 11:35:00. It would be 43They said the Boston Marathon was the world’smore years before Roberta Gibb ran 48km less topurest, most quintessentially amateur event and thatfinish the Boston Marathon. Arthur Newton trainedmoney would surely kill the classic Patriots’ Day6000 miles during the year, and won again. He laterrace. Instead, inept, amateur race organisers nearlywon two more Comrades, set many ultra distancederailed the Boston mystique in the mid-1980s andworld records and generally revolutionised trainingit took the infusion professionalism and a prizefor distance running with his emphasis on the impor-purse (introduced in 1986) to re-establish the race’stance of slow, consistent effort in training.world prominence.

Late 1970s: The three victories of hometown 1975: For the first time, and coinciding with itshero Bill Rodgers (1978, 1979 and 1980) followed 50th running, Comrades opened its entry list to allhis 1975 win, bringing massive coverage and popu- runners, men and women, of all ethnic groups. Thislarity to Boston and the marathon in general. happened 15 years before the fall of apartheid. The

1983: Joan Benoit covered the first mile in 4:47 field reached 1686 runners that year, almost as manyand the half marathon in 1:08:30. “I’d rather burn as the Boston Marathon’s 2041 runners.out than rust,” she said after finishing in a world-

1980s: A blonde, shaggy-haired, Bill Rodgersrecord time of 2:22:43.look-a-like, by the name of Bruce Fordyce, won1996: The Boston Marathon became the firstComrades 8 years in a row, setting records for bothmarathon to reach its 100th running and attracted athe up and down courses.start field of 38 708. That was roughly double what

2000: The 75th Comrades attracted a field oforganisers had expected when they began planning24 552 runners.for the historic race several years in advance.

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286 Burfoot

5. The London Marathon: 1976–Present 1977: The first Mayor Daley Marathon attracted>4200 runners, making it the largest marathon in the

In 1979, Chris Brasher, who had helped pace world…for 3 weeks. Then, the second five-boroughRoger Bannister to the first sub 4-minute mile in NYC Marathon drew 4821 runners.1954, travelled to the NYC Marathon to run it and

1984: Steve Jones won Chicago in a world re-write about it for the London Observer. After the

cord, 2:08:05.Marathon, Brasher returned to London and wrote:

1999: Khalid Khannouchi scored the second of“Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-strickenhis eventual four Chicago wins in a world recordcities in the world, 11 532 men and women from 402:05:42.countries assisted by over a million black, white and

2001: Catherine Ndereba became the first womanyellow people, laughed and cheered and sufferedto break 2:19:00 in the marathon, running 2:18:47.during the greatest folk festival the world has seen. I

2002: Paula Radcliffe became the first woman towonder whether London could stage such a festi-break 2:18:00, as she finished in 2:17:18.val?”

1981: The answer was yes. The first London 7. The Gender GapMarathon, co-founded by Brasher, attracted 7055starters, a number that soared to 16 350 the follow- As women have entered the marathon race ining year. London passed 20 000 in 1984, 25 000 in unprecedented numbers, the gender gap between1990 and 30 000 in 1998, and has almost always male and female performances has narrowed dra-enjoyed a 99% completion rate. matically. In 1976, the world record for men was

2002: In perhaps the greatest men’s marathon 2:08:34 and for women 2:38:19. That is a differen-ever, Khalid Khannouchi set a world record, tial of 18.71%. Since then, the best male perform-2:05:38, closely followed by Paul Tergat (2:05:48) ance has dropped just 2.83%, to 2:04:55. Mean-and Haile Gebrselassie (2:06:35). The next year in while, the best female performance has plummetedBerlin, Tergat would set the still existing men’s an astonishing 14.46% to 2:15:25. Indeed, the mara-record of 2:04:55. thon gender gap is now just 7.73%, which is lower

2003: Paula Radcliffe ran an astounding 2:15:25, than the difference at many other running distances.a world record that still stands. The current women’s world record could last a

decade or more, while the current men’s record6. The Chicago Marathon: 1976-Present could fall very soon.

The Chicago Marathon has had the most troub-8. Masters of the Marathonled, up-and-down history of any of the world’s great

marathons. Since its founding in 1977, the race has In 1976, most marathon observers would havehad multiple courses, even more sponsors and own- been hard pressed to name a single outstandingers and even one year (1987) when a half marathon masters runner (>40 years old) in the marathon, withhad to be substituted for the full marathon distance. the very notable exception of ‘old’ John A. Kelley,Critics and cynics noted that Chicago was an old,middle-American, meat-and-potatoes football town,maybe not the right place for a marathon. But thingsbegan changing when a new management team tookover in 1990 and they leapt forward when theLaSalle Bank purchased the race outright in 1996,making it the sole corporate owner of a world classmarathon. Now, the Chicago Marathon is heraldedfor its flat course, easy access to hotel rooms and theconvenient, beautiful lakefront start and finish.

Table I. Remarkable marathon performances

Age (years) Runner Finishing time Year

66 Clarence DeMar 3:58:34 1954

66 John A. Kelley 3:24:10 1974

72 John A. Kelley 3:35:21 1980

73 Ed Whitlock 2:54:49 2004

84 John A. Kelley 5:58:36 1992

92 Fauja Singh 5:40:04 2004

80 Helen Klein 4:31:42 2002

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Marathon History: 1976–2006 287

2. Bryant J. The London Marathon. London: Arrow Publishers,who eventually finished 58 Boston Marathons, the2006last at the age of 84 years. Since 1976, the then

3. Derderian T. Boston Marathon. Champaign (IL): Human Kinet-marathon-running population aged by 30 years and,ics, 1994

to a remarkable extent, continued to participate in4. Gambaccini, P. The New York City Marathon. New York:

marathons. As a result, we are surrounded by hun- Rizzoli, 1994dreds of remarkable performances by men and wo- 5. Boston Athletic Association [online]. Available from URL:men of virtually all ages. These are far too numerous http://www.bostonmarathon.org/ [Accessed 2007 Feb 28]

to chronicle, so I will provide just one comparative 6. Flora London Marathon [online]. Available from URL: http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/ [Accessed 2007 Feb 28]example. Table I provides a look at the ‘original’

7. The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon [online]. Available frommasters runner (Clarence DeMar), his successorURL: http://www.chicagomarathon.com/ [Accessed 2007 Feb(John A. Kelley), the current phenomenon28](Canada’s Ed Whitlock) and lastly, an amazing fe-

8. The ING New York City Marathon [online]. Available frommale runner (Helen Klein). Surely these runnersURL: http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/home/index.php [Ac-

inspire us all. cessed 2007 Feb 28]

9. Martin DE, Gynn RWH. The marathon footrace: performers andperformances. Springfield (IL): Charles C Thomas, 1979Acknowledgements

10. Suozzo A. The Chicago Marathon. Champaign (IL): Universityof Illinois Press, 2006The author has indicated that she has no affiliation or

11. Switzer K, Robinson R. 26.2 marathon stories. Emmaus (PA):financial interest in any organisation(s) that may have a directRodale Press, 2006interest in the subject matter of this article.

Correspondence: Amby Burfoot, Runner’s World Magazine,References33 East Minor Street, Emmaus, PA 18049, USA.1. Alexander M. The Comrades Marathon story. Cape Town: Juta

& Company Ltd., 1976 E-mail: amby.burfoot@rodale.com

© 2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved. Sports Med 2007; 37 (4-5)