OCR Text |
Show Modern Marathon races, such as the recent courageous attempt of long-distance swimmers to conquer the cold waters of Lake Ontario, and similar distance contests in running, skating, and so on, bring to mind the great antiquity of the name Marathon. Mara-thon. The first Marathon run, strictly speaking, took place in Greece in the year 490 B. C, and was such a remarkable re-markable example of endurance that the name today is a fitting appellation appella-tion for similar tests of physical strength. That run was some twenty four centries ago. The Marathon race in the Olympic Games was so named to commemorate, according to Webster's New International Dictionary, Diction-ary, "the reputed feat of the Greek Who rah from Marathon to AtheM bearing the news of the victory." The Battle of Marathon ended in the decisive defeat of the invading Persian armies, by the Athenians, under the generalship of the famous commander, Militiades. A runner Pheidippides by name was immediately immedi-ately dispatched after the battle to Athens, some 24 miles distant; he arrived ar-rived in the city, shouted the great news of the victory, and fell dead. |