Sports Med 2007; 37 (4-5): 284-287

CONFERENCE PAPER 0112-1642/07/0004-0284/$44.95/0

© 2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.

The History of the Marathon

1976–Present
Amby Burfoot
Runner’s World Magazine, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, USA

Abstract Since the 1976 New York City Marathon, the first ‘urban tour’ marathon, the
sport has exploded on a global basis. Once limited largely to the Olympics, the
Boston Marathon and several others, marathons are now held worldwide, with
dozens 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 racing
has been particularly startling

At the 1976 meeting, David Martin and col- of four straight victories in 2:10:10. This somewhat
leagues delivered an astonishingly complete record made up for his disappointing 40th place finish in
of 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 Waitz
it worldwide. Several popular publications[1-11] have ran the NYC Marathon only because it offered her
made it easier to follow the major events. This and her husband Jack a free trip to New York. She
discussion will focus on the development of the won easily in a world record 2:32:30, crushing the
marathon over the last 30 years through the recent previous women’s record by an astounding 2 hours
history of the New York City (NYC), Olympic, and 18 minutes in her first marathon attempt. After
Boston, 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 would
wide social and fitness phenomenon. Participation eventually win the NYC Marathon nine times. In his
of female and masters runners in the marathon will marathon debut, Alberto Salazar won the first of his
also 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 first
Marathon: 1976–Present East African to win a major US marathon. He would
win Boston the following April for the first of three
Fred Lebow had been overseeing the NYC Mara- times.
thon in Central Park since 1970, but in 1976 he
introduced the five-borough event that changed the
marathon forever. Following New York City’s lead, 2. The Olympic Marathon: 1976–Present
hundreds of important cities worldwide began and
continue 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 International
runners, 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 Comrades

has been a highlight ever since. Marathon: 1921–Present
1976 and 1980: East Germany’s Waldemar
Cierpinski won successive Olympic Marathon titles, Cut off from much of the world for many years
matching the achievement of Abebe Bikila before by distance and politics, South Africa has held the
him. However, Cierpinski’s medals will always be world’s most famous ultra marathon race since
considered the product of a massive East German 1921. Among the amazing characteristics of the
state-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, silver
included Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota and Ingrid Kris- and bronze medals to finishers, depending on their
tiansen.
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
won so brilliantly in 1960 and 1964. In the previous 1921: The first race was held in 1921, with 34
three women’s Olympic Marathons, no African had runners starting the course that climbed 2200 feet
finished in the top eight. through the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The race
2000 and 2004: The last two women’s Olympic began in Durban and finished in Pietermaritzburg.
Marathons have been won by Japanese runners, 1922: The amazing Arthur ‘Greatheart’ Newton
making 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-
They said the Boston Marathon was the world’s pleted the uphill course in 11:35:00. It would be 43
purest, most quintessentially amateur event and that more years before Roberta Gibb ran 48km less to
money would surely kill the classic Patriots’ Day finish the Boston Marathon. Arthur Newton trained
race. Instead, inept, amateur race organisers nearly 6000 miles during the year, and won again. He later
derailed the Boston mystique in the mid-1980s and won two more Comrades, set many ultra distance
it took the infusion professionalism and a prize world records and generally revolutionised training
purse (introduced in 1986) to re-establish the race’s for distance running with his emphasis on the impor-
world prominence. tance of slow, consistent effort in training.
Late 1970s: The three victories of hometown 1975: For the first time, and coinciding with its
hero Bill Rodgers (1978, 1979 and 1980) followed 50th running, Comrades opened its entry list to all
his 1975 win, bringing massive coverage and popu- runners, men and women, of all ethnic groups. This
larity 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 many
and 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-
record time of 2:22:43. 1980s: A blonde, shaggy-haired, Bill Rodgers
1996: The Boston Marathon became the first look-a-like, by the name of Bruce Fordyce, won
marathon to reach its 100th running and attracted a Comrades 8 years in a row, setting records for both
start field of 38 708. That was roughly double what the up and down courses.
organisers had expected when they began planning 2000: The 75th Comrades attracted a field of
for the historic race several years in advance. 24 552 runners.

© 2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved. Sports Med 2007; 37 (4-5)
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-borough
Roger 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-stricken
his eventual four Chicago wins in a world record
cities in the world, 11 532 men and women from 40
2:05:42.
countries assisted by over a million black, white and
2001: Catherine Ndereba became the first woman
yellow people, laughed and cheered and suffered
to break 2:19:00 in the marathon, running 2:18:47.
during the greatest folk festival the world has seen. I
wonder whether London could stage such a festi- 2002: Paula Radcliffe became the first woman to
val?” break 2:18:00, as she finished in 2:17:18.
1981: The answer was yes. The first London
7. The Gender Gap
Marathon, co-founded by Brasher, attracted 7055
starters, a number that soared to 16 350 the follow- As women have entered the marathon race in
ing year. London passed 20 000 in 1984, 25 000 in unprecedented numbers, the gender gap between
1990 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 plummeted
Berlin, 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 record
6. The Chicago Marathon: 1976-Present could fall very soon.
The Chicago Marathon has had the most troub-
led, up-and-down history of any of the world’s great 8. Masters of the Marathon
marathons. Since its founding in 1977, the race has In 1976, most marathon observers would have
had multiple courses, even more sponsors and own- been hard pressed to name a single outstanding
ers and even one year (1987) when a half marathon masters runner (>40 years old) in the marathon, with
had 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, Table I. Remarkable marathon performances
maybe not the right place for a marathon. But things Age (years) Runner Finishing time Year
began changing when a new management team took 66 Clarence DeMar 3:58:34 1954
over in 1990 and they leapt forward when the 66 John A. Kelley 3:24:10 1974
LaSalle Bank purchased the race outright in 1996, 72 John A. Kelley 3:35:21 1980
making it the sole corporate owner of a world class 73 Ed Whitlock 2:54:49 2004
marathon. Now, the Chicago Marathon is heralded 84 John A. Kelley 5:58:36 1992

for its flat course, easy access to hotel rooms and the 92 Fauja Singh 5:40:04 2004
80 Helen Klein 4:31:42 2002
convenient, beautiful lakefront start and finish.

© 2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved. Sports Med 2007; 37 (4-5)
Marathon History: 1976–2006 287

who eventually finished 58 Boston Marathons, the 2. Bryant J. The London Marathon. London: Arrow Publishers,
2006
last 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 in 4. Gambaccini, P. The New York City Marathon. New York:
marathons. As a result, we are surrounded by hun- Rizzoli, 1994
dreds 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://
example. Table I provides a look at the ‘original’ www.london-marathon.co.uk/ [Accessed 2007 Feb 28]
masters runner (Clarence DeMar), his successor 7. The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon [online]. Available from
(John A. Kelley), the current phenomenon URL: http://www.chicagomarathon.com/ [Accessed 2007 Feb
28]
(Canada’s Ed Whitlock) and lastly, an amazing fe-
8. The ING New York City Marathon [online]. Available from
male runner (Helen Klein). Surely these runners URL: http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/home/index.php [Ac-
inspire us all. cessed 2007 Feb 28]
9. Martin DE, Gynn RWH. The marathon footrace: performers and
Acknowledgements performances. Springfield (IL): Charles C Thomas, 1979
10. Suozzo A. The Chicago Marathon. Champaign (IL): University
The author has indicated that she has no affiliation or of Illinois Press, 2006
financial interest in any organisation(s) that may have a direct 11. Switzer K, Robinson R. 26.2 marathon stories. Emmaus (PA):
interest in the subject matter of this article. Rodale Press, 2006

Correspondence: Amby Burfoot, Runner’s World Magazine,

References
1. Alexander M. The Comrades Marathon story. Cape Town: Juta 33 East Minor Street, Emmaus, PA 18049, USA.
& Company Ltd., 1976 E-mail: amby.burfoot@rodale.com

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