On 19^th January, 2025, Mumbai city will witness the annual ‘Mumbai Marathon’, an event ongoing proudly since 2004. For endurance enthusiasts, these forty-two kilometres gruellingly, exhilarating, long-distance run is an indescribable moment and movement, described by many as a life-changing moment.

The Mumbai Marathon is not just about running. It has an inclusive and robust charity programme through which everyone (be it an individual or corporate) can help support a charity or raise funds for a cause of their choice. As much as running is a process of self-discovery, supporting and donating / fundraising for a cause is a personal and emotional journey. When these two personal choices embrace each other, the magic happens. Knowing that one is not just running for pursuing a personal goal but also for a cause, gives one that added motivation and joy in this endeavour.

As a fundraiser, the runner may involve his/her loved ones, friends, colleagues, neighbours or absolutely anyone he/she can directly or indirectly influence, generating greater awareness about the cause and the work of the NGO one may have selected. The ripple effect of one’s efforts has lasting positive impact on the cause, beyond the day of this amazing event!

Roots in Greco-Persian War

The Greco-Persian Wars (or Persian Wars) were a series of battles between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that ranged from 499 BC to 449 BC. The collision between the restless political world of the Greeks and the enormous (first of its kind) ‘world empire’ of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BC.

One of the more well-known battles in the Persian wars is the Battle of Marathon that took place in 490 BC when the Persians invaded Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens (aided also by the citizens of Plataea), and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. This battle was the first attempt by Persia under King Darius the Great to subjugate Greece. However, the Persians lost this battle. A decade later in 480 BC, Xerxes the Great (son of Darius), personally led a large army and crossed the Hellespont into Europe and avenged his father’s defeat.

However, to return to the battle of Marathon, the ‘Marathon Run’ finds its roots in the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that Pheidippides was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon in which he had also fought. According to legend he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly at Athens, exclaiming, “we have won,” before collapsing and dying.

Different Versions Of The Legend

The account of this run from Marathon to Athens first appears in Plutarch’s ‘De gloria Atheniensium’ (Glory of Athens) in the first century AD, which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus’s lost work, giving the runner’s name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles. Lucian of Samosata in the second century AD also gives the same story, but names the runner Philippides (not Pheidippides).

There is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend. The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who ran from Athens to Sparta asking for help, and then ran back, a distance of over 240 kilometres (150 miles) each way. In some Herodotus manuscripts, the name of the runner between Athens and Sparta is given as Philippides. Herodotus makes no mention of a messenger sent from Marathon to Athens, and relates that the main part of the Athenian army, having fought and won the gruelling battle, and fearing a naval raid by the Persian fleet against an undefended Athens, marched quickly back from the battle to Athens, arriving the same day. In 1879, Robert Browning’s poem ‘Pheidippides’, became part of late 19^th century popular culture and came to be accepted as a historic legend.

The Original Marathon Run

There are two roads out of the battlefield of Marathon towards Athens, one more mountainous towards the north whose distance is about thirty-four and a half kilometres and another flatter but longer towards the south with a distance of almost forty-one kilometres. It is often argued that the ancient runner took the more difficult northern road because at the time of the battle there were still Persian soldiers in the south of the plain.

Mount Penteli stands between Marathon and Athens, which means that, if Pheidippides actually made his famous run after the battle, he had to run around the mountain, either to the north or to the south. The latter and more obvious route matches almost exactly the modern Marathon-Athens highway, which follows the layout of the land southwards from Marathon Bay and along the coast, then takes a gentle but protracted climb westward towards the eastern approach to Athens, between the foothills of Mounts Hymettus and Penteli, and then gently downhill to Athens proper.

This route, as it existed when the Olympics were revived in 1896, was approximately forty kilometres long, and this was the approximate distance originally used for marathon races. However, there are other theories that Pheidippides might have followed another route: a westward climb along the eastern and northern slopes of Mount Penteli to the pass of Dionysos, and then a straight southward downhill path to Athens. This route is considerably shorter, some thirty-five kilometres, but includes a very steep initial climb of more than five kilometres.

Tribute At The First Olympics

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. The games were held at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was the main venue for the games. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, known as the father of the modern Olympics, organized the congress in Paris in 1894 to choose Athens as the host city. The games were held to celebrate the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games. The 1896 games featured forty-three events, two hundred and forty-one athletes from fourteen nations.

The marathon was introduced at this first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. The race was a tribute to Pheidippides, the Greek soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 BC. The Greeks staged a selection race for the Olympic marathon on 10^th March 1896 that was won by Charilaos Vasilakos in three hours and eighteen minutes (with the future winner of the introductory Olympic Games marathon coming in fifth). The race, on 10^th April, became a highlight of the inaugural Games. And the fact that it was won by Spyridon Louis, a Greek, produced a euphoric reaction in the host country.

Since the modern games were founded, it has become a tradition for the men’s Olympic marathon to be the last event of the athletics calendar, with a finish inside the Olympic stadium, often within hours of, or even incorporated into, the closing ceremonies.

Keep Running, Keep Excelling!

The current world record time for men over the Marathon distance is 2 hours and 35 seconds, set in the Chicago Marathon by the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya on 8^th October 2023. The world record for women was set by Ruth Chepng’etich of Kenya in the Chicago Marathon on 13^th October 2024, in 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 56 seconds.

For athletes the Marathon is about attaining new heights of excellence and breaking old myths and barriers. On a slightly different note, for centuries it was believed no one could run the distance of one mile in under four minutes. Four minutes was seen as a barrier that no human being could break. After countless attempts by athletes around the world, on 6^th May 1954, the four-minute barrier was finally broken by Bannister at the Iffley Road track in Oxford. During his studies at Oxford, Bannister was able to use his medical knowledge to examine the mechanics of running and so devise a rigorous training regime for himself.

To conclude, we Mumbaikars warmly welcome the ‘Mumbai Marathon 2025.’ We view it as a ‘City Celebration’. We also see it as a celebration of health, endurance, fitness and above all else, a strong sense of community and bonding. In more ways than one, this event celebrates unity and life in the city.  Keep running…