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
2012 Olympic Marathon Course distances relative to the lap start point of various prominent landmarks passed on the route are shown in the table below: When London submitted its bid for the Olympic Games in 2004, the bid chairman Sebastian Coe said: "The marathon course has been designed to include as many of the city's landmarks as possible". Although the final route is different from the one proposed in the bid, it still passes many notable landmarks. Originally the route was planned to start at Tower Bridge, run through Tower Hamlets and finish at the Olympic Stadium. It would have had a 580 m