2012 Olympic Marathon Course standard length for a marathon, and the 1908 marathon course was originally to have been 25 miles, passing through Uxbridge, Ruislip, Harrow-on-the-Hill before ending at the White City Stadium. It was extended to 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 km) to avoid troublesome cobbles and tram lines, because of access restrictions at Windsor Castle and to improve visibility to the spectators, including Queen Alexandra, for the finishing stretch inside the stadium. This distance subsequently became the official length of the marathon. In 1948, London hosted the first Olympic Games to be held after World War II the "austerity games". The
Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon at the Olympic Stadium, the Great White City Stadium in Shepherd's Bush in London. The Polytechnic Harriers were also tasked with organising a Marathon Trial Race, to be run along most of the Olympic Marathon route. By April 1908, a revised map of the course of the Trial Race was published, also showing the intended course of the Olympic Marathon. It had by this time been decided to fix the Olympic Marathon distance at "about 26 miles" to the stadium, plus a lap of the track (), using the Royal Entrance as the marathon tunnel, and finishing at the normal