Polytechnic Marathon Polytechnic Marathon The Polytechnic Marathon, often called the Poly, was a marathon held annually between 1909 and 1996, over various courses in or near London. It was the first marathon to be run regularly over the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards which is now the global standard. A total of eight world marathon bests were set in the Poly, including the first authenticated time under 2 hours, 20 minutes which had been regarded as the marathon equivalent of the four-minute mile. At the time of its demise in 1996, the Poly was Europe's oldest regular marathon. It had seen
Spirit of the Marathon Salazar, Grete Waitz, Paula Radcliffe, Joan Benoit-Samuelson, and Kathrine Switzer provide commentary about the sport. The focus is then on the six featured runners and their training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. American Deena Kastor and Kenyan Daniel Njenga are both elite runners, and are determined to win the race. Kastor was the bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympic Marathon, but has yet to win a marathon. Njenga had finished second multiple times in previous Chicago Marathons. Kastor is shown training and recovering from an injury in Mammoth Lakes, California, while Njenga's life as a sponsored runner in Tokyo is