Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon The men's marathon event was a special race invented as part of the Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. Michel Bréal originated the idea of a race from the city of Marathon to Athens, taking inspiration from the legend of Pheidippides. The first such marathon race was a Greek national competition that served as a qualifier for the Olympic marathon, won by Charilaos Vasilakos. The length of the marathon in 1896 was approximately 40 km (25 mi). Twenty-five athletes traveled to Marathon for the race from there to Athens, though
Vilnius Marathon Vilnius Marathon The Danske Bank Vilnius Marathon is an annual road marathon, held in Vilnius, Lithuania. The main sponsor of the marathon is Danske Bank. It was introduced in 2001 as 10k race and grew to a classic marathon in 2004. Half marathon was introduced in 2006. Quarter marathon was introduced in 2012. Member of AIMS from 2007. It's probably the fastest growing marathon in the Baltics. It tripled the number of participants between 2012 and 2015. In 2012 there were over 5000 runners, while 16424 runners ran the marathon in 2015. An estimated 20000 runners will run the marathon