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Iconic marathon keeps on
THE annual Rotorua Marathon, supported by the Lion Foundation around the 42km loop of Lake Rotorua, is fast approaching.
This year's 45th consecutive event, which includes 5km and 10km runs around the lake front, is on May 2.
That the Rotorua Marathon is one of the iconic marathons in the world is confirmed by the recently published book The Marathon 26.2 detailing internationally recognised events.
The Rotorua Marathon pre-race setting, acknowledging the marathoners warm-up around Sulphur Point, is described as "sulphurous steam swirling around the marathoners from the hot, cracked ground, where the very earth seems to take deep breaths before the start".
The 5km and 10km circuit enthusiasts will experience this famous feature in full.
The 26.2 in the book title refers to the exact marathon distance laid down for the Olympic and great international world marathons of 26 miles 385 yards 6 inches of which 42.2km is the metric equivalent.
As is well documented, the first modern Olympic Games held at Athens in Greece in 1896 featured a race, thereafter referred to as the marathon, from the bridge at Marathon to Athens.
It was inspired by the feat of Pheidippides who, according to the legend described with some poetic licence by Robert Browning in his poem Pheidippides, ran from Marathon to Athens in 490BC to bring news of the victory over the Persian forces.
The distance from the bridge at Marathon to the Agora (place of assembly) which is situated in the ancient Greek section of Athens, is about 24 miles (38.6km).
The distance was extended for the 1908 Olympic Marathon in London so that the event could start at Windsor Castle to allow King Edward VII to watch the start from the comfort of his own home.
It was 26 miles from Windsor Castle to the White City Stadium and a further 385 yards 6 inches around the track to cross the finish line which was drawn across the track in front of the royal box where the King's wife, Queen Alexandra, was waiting to greet the winner.
This official distance set for the marathon event, now referred to by its metric equivalent, 42.2km, meant that when the Olympic Games returned to Athens in 2004, to start at the bridge at Marathon and finish in Athens, it was necessary to add the extra distance with an additional 5km loop.
In true Greek tradition the loop circled the statue of the Greek Warrior at the battlefield site of 490BC on the beachfront.
The Marathon 26.2 tells us that more than one million people ran in an organised marathon last year and 50 million were standing along the sidelines cheering them on. More than 80,000 marathoners in the past 44 years have experienced the joy and agony of the Lake Rotorua loop in the Rotorua Marathon and no doubt will have had, on the same basis, four million standing around the lake cheering them on.
As the marathoners this year come through, in the royal tradition, the Princes Archway, and run, skip, limp, stagger, totter, walk, the last stretch up the Queen's Drive they can be assured of many supporters packed against the ropes cheering them on to meet the welcoming finishing marshals and large team of doctors, nurses, paramedics, masseurs, and physiotherapists, and to receive an accurate time, the Asics finishers T-shirt to prove it, and this year, a medal to celebrate number 45.
This year's 45th consecutive event, which includes 5km and 10km runs around the lake front, is on May 2.
That the Rotorua Marathon is one of the iconic marathons in the world is confirmed by the recently published book The Marathon 26.2 detailing internationally recognised events.
The Rotorua Marathon pre-race setting, acknowledging the marathoners warm-up around Sulphur Point, is described as "sulphurous steam swirling around the marathoners from the hot, cracked ground, where the very earth seems to take deep breaths before the start".
The 5km and 10km circuit enthusiasts will experience this famous feature in full.
The 26.2 in the book title refers to the exact marathon distance laid down for the Olympic and great international world marathons of 26 miles 385 yards 6 inches of which 42.2km is the metric equivalent.
As is well documented, the first modern Olympic Games held at Athens in Greece in 1896 featured a race, thereafter referred to as the marathon, from the bridge at Marathon to Athens.
It was inspired by the feat of Pheidippides who, according to the legend described with some poetic licence by Robert Browning in his poem Pheidippides, ran from Marathon to Athens in 490BC to bring news of the victory over the Persian forces.
The distance from the bridge at Marathon to the Agora (place of assembly) which is situated in the ancient Greek section of Athens, is about 24 miles (38.6km).
The distance was extended for the 1908 Olympic Marathon in London so that the event could start at Windsor Castle to allow King Edward VII to watch the start from the comfort of his own home.
It was 26 miles from Windsor Castle to the White City Stadium and a further 385 yards 6 inches around the track to cross the finish line which was drawn across the track in front of the royal box where the King's wife, Queen Alexandra, was waiting to greet the winner.
This official distance set for the marathon event, now referred to by its metric equivalent, 42.2km, meant that when the Olympic Games returned to Athens in 2004, to start at the bridge at Marathon and finish in Athens, it was necessary to add the extra distance with an additional 5km loop.
In true Greek tradition the loop circled the statue of the Greek Warrior at the battlefield site of 490BC on the beachfront.
The Marathon 26.2 tells us that more than one million people ran in an organised marathon last year and 50 million were standing along the sidelines cheering them on. More than 80,000 marathoners in the past 44 years have experienced the joy and agony of the Lake Rotorua loop in the Rotorua Marathon and no doubt will have had, on the same basis, four million standing around the lake cheering them on.
As the marathoners this year come through, in the royal tradition, the Princes Archway, and run, skip, limp, stagger, totter, walk, the last stretch up the Queen's Drive they can be assured of many supporters packed against the ropes cheering them on to meet the welcoming finishing marshals and large team of doctors, nurses, paramedics, masseurs, and physiotherapists, and to receive an accurate time, the Asics finishers T-shirt to prove it, and this year, a medal to celebrate number 45.
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