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
Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon Shinmai Marathon which was first held in 1958. The marathon came under its current moniker in 1999. The elite race is international in nature, with a number of foreign runners being invited each year, although prominent Japanese athletes also take part. Kenyans have won the majority of the men's races while Russians have dominated the women's race. Nephat Kinyanjui of Kenya won the race a record three times consecutively between 2006 and 2008. Since its rebirth in 1999, only two Japanese runners have won the race (Akiyo Onishi in 1999 and Yuki Kawauchi in 2013). Key: Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon