Battle of Marathon of events, with the competitors running from Marathon to Athens. So popular was this event that it quickly caught on, becoming a fixture at the Olympic games, with major cities staging their own annual events. The distance eventually became fixed at 26 miles 385 yards, or 42.195 km, though for the first years it was variable, being around —the approximate distance from Marathon to Athens. Battle of Marathon The Battle of Marathon (Greek: , "Machē tou Marathōnos") took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea,
Twenty-Five Miles inclusion on the Motown compilation album, "The Original Soul of Michael Jackson", in 1987, with Michael Jackson being given sole performer credit for the track. It was not the original recording, however, as it included drum machine overdubs; the original featured a hard-driving drum track by Uriel Jones, one of the Funk Brothers. Jackson's version of "Twenty-Five Miles" was released as a single in the US to promote "The Original Soul of Michael Jackson". The single was backed by the song "Up on the Housetop". The original recording of the song was included on the 2009 set, "". A shortened