Marathon later recognized by the race organizers as the women's winner for that year, as well as 1967 and 1968. The length of an Olympic marathon was not precisely fixed at first, but the marathon races in the first few Olympic Games were about , roughly the distance from Marathon to Athens by the longer, flatter route. The exact length depended on the route established for each venue. The International Olympic Committee agreed in 1907 that the distance for the 1908 London Olympic marathon would be about 25 miles or 40 kilometres. The organisers decided on a course of 26 miles
Johnny Miles stayed with him until Heartbreak Hill, at which point he passed him. Miles completed the race in a time of 2:25:40. His time was so fast that the course was remeasured and found to be 176 yards short. Miles attempted to defend his title at the 1927 Boston Marathon, but dropped out early due to problems with his shoes. In 1929 Miles returned to Boston and won the marathon in a time of 2:33:08. Miles competed in two more Boston Marathons, never finishing higher than 10th. Between his two wins in Boston, Miles won the Canadian 10000 metre championship in