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
Quarter marathon Quarter marathon Quarter marathon (QM) refers to either an exact race of a quarter of a marathon, or running for 10–15 kilometers (approx. 6.5–9 miles) without a rest. The former is held in many places around the world. Sisaket, a north-eastern province in Thailand, holds quarter marathons on the third Sunday of December every year. Bushey, a town in East England also holds quarter marathons every July. The Congleton Quarter Marathon was set up by the Congleton Lions; it afforded participants the opportunity to run alongside the half marathon runners. The Congleton Lions decided to stop organising the race in