Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon view of the final yards, the direction of running was changed to "right-hand inside" (i.e. clockwise). This meant the distance in the stadium was shortened to , and the total distance became officially "about 26 miles plus 385 yards on the track". A modified version of the Polytechnic Harriers' April 1908 map was issued in June 1908 incorporating the changed ending and omitting the "Long Walk" start used for the Trial Marathon. This was published in the newspapers and in the official programme for the games. This distance (ignoring the word "about" in the phrase "about 26 miles plus 385
Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon yards on the track") eventually became the origin of the modern Marathon distance of "no less than 42.195 km". According to the book "The Marathon Makers" by John Bryant, the first mile of the 1908 Olympic Marathon course was remeasured by John Disley in the late 1990s and was found to be 174 yards (159 m) short. The official report lists the leaders at each mile from the fourth to the twenty-fourth: Thomas Jack (miles 4–5); Frederick Lord (miles 6–14); Charles Hefferon (miles 15–24). Dorando Pietri of Italy caught Hefferon and sped up between Old Oak Common Lane and Wormwood