White City, London paving outside the building. The Marathon from these London Olympics played an important part in the development of the modern marathon race. In the early years of competitive international sport, the long distance marathon race did not have a standard set distance. The distance run at the first seven Olympics from 1896 to 1920 varied between 40km and 42.75 km. The starting point of the race at the 1908 Olympics was at Windsor Castle creating a distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km) to the finishing line at White City stadium. In 1921 this was adopted as the standard
2012 Olympic Marathon Course along the Victoria Embankment with the regular London Marathon course, the Olympic event also started in The Mall whilst the London Marathon starts in Greenwich, and the event followed an otherwise different course. The logistical problems behind the design of the London Marathon course (35,000 runners of mixed ability) are very different from those behind the design of the London Olympic Marathon course (100 top-class runners) hence the difference in the routes. The course for the Paralympic Marathon also had four laps which were nearly identical to the 2012 Olympic Marathon course, but avoided certain cobbled areas notably Paternoster Square,