Catch up with marathon fun

In cooler times of the year, thousands around the world put on their running shoes and take part in marathons.

On January 18, Dubai will host the world's richest marathon, the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.

Enjoyable and addictive

The population is split in two where fascination for marathons is concerned: There are those who believe running is enjoyable, even addictive, and then there are people who think that those who voluntarily put themselves through that sort of pain and exhaustion are beyond help.

But everyone agrees that completing a marathon is a unique and admirable achievement — and it also allows you to travel the world while indulging in a sport of your choice.

Annual events

An annual marathon is now run in every major city, the famous ones being the Boston, New York City, Rome and Paris runs — where the cities organise street parties, erect stalls, play music and attract huge crowds.

Whether you ever intend to run or simply watch a marathon — good luck, or whatever it is you say, presumably not “break a leg''?

The 'go' spot

Legend has it that the first person to ever complete a marathon, and thus coin the phrase, was Pheidippides, a young Greek soldier.

It is believed that in 490BC, Pheidippides ran approximately 25 miles from the town of Marathon, where an important battle had been won, to Athens to let the citizens know about the victory.

According to history, he had also just completed a 150-mile run to Sparta.

It is lucky that the “Marathon'' run went down in history, otherwise we would be running the “Sparta'', covering 150 miles all over the world today. Wonder how many participants that would manage to attract in the Olympics?

When the going gets tough ...

For the keen (mad?) runners for whom city marathons are too wimpish, there are other, more challenging runs. The two most gruelling races are the Amman Dead Sea Ultra Marathon and the Sand Marathon run in Morocco.

The Amman Dead Sea run has the distinction of starting from the highest point of Amman down to the lowest point on earth, 400 metres below sea level, in the South Jordan desert.

The Sand Run, held in mid-April, is exactly what its title says, a 150-mile, seven-day run through the sands of the Sahara — only recommended for the fittest and most dedicated long-distance runners.

Somebody who would probably find that distance a doddle are the famed Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei, Japan.

These monks, on their path to enlightenment and becoming a living Buddha, run approximately 24,000 miles over seven years of training.

In the first 100 days alone, they are asked to complete a marathon a day.

Once this and other hardships have been successfully managed, the monks may move on to the next step, which involves a 50-mile run each day for 100 days.

To make sure that they are really not enjoying themselves, they have to chant, fast and go without sleep along the way and are only equipped with simple robes and woven sandals.

The two other things they do carry are a rope and a knife, for if the trainee monk fails in his task, he will have to commit suicide by either hanging or disembowelment. How is that for encouragement?

London leads the pack

In April 2007, a record 36,396 people took part in one of the most popular city marathons in the world — the London Marathon.

Over the last 21 years, the London Marathon has gone from strength to strength in the number of participants it gets and the amount of money that is raised as charity.

When the event first started in 1981, only 7,747 people participated, with 6,255 making it across the finishing line.

In total, the London Marathon has seen 445,129 participants and millions of pounds raised by the event.

The Flora London Marathon was recently awarded a Guinness World Record for the “World's Largest Annual Fundraising Event'' — raising £46.5 million (Dh336.2 million) from the 2007 event.

Olympic fame

Despite the early conception of the long-distance marathon run, the race was not included in the Olympics until 1896, when out of 25 participants only nine made it across the finishing line, and this even though the distance run was then “only'' 24.85 miles.

It was changed to the present figure of 26.2 miles in the 1908 Olympics held in London to make the finish line more conveniently observable by King Edward VII from his
royal box.

Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey is a UAE-based freelance writer