BBC Sporting Witness...Dorando Pietri - Hero of the 1908 Olympic Marathon

The Olympic Marathon first began in 1896 and the race distance varied from 40 km to 42 kilometres (25-26 miles) based upon the distance between two points that the organisers felt were suitable. The 1908 London Olympics marked the introduction of the now standard distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 km). This would later become the standard distance after the 1924 Paris Olympics.

The 1908 London Marathon was also famous for the finish of the Italian sweet maker Dornado Pietri.

If you've run a marathon then you've run that extra 385 yards at the end thanks to the changes made for that 1908 marathon.

The BBC World Service had a podcast recently about it recently in their Sporting Witness programme (9 mins in length)...Dorando Pietri - Hero of the 1908 Olympic Marathon

Place    Athlete    Time
1     Johnny Hayes (USA)    2:55:18.4
2     Charles Hefferon (RSA)    2:56:06.0
3     Joseph Forshaw (USA)    2:57:10.4

Dorando Pietri (disqualified)...2:54:46

John Treacy won silver in the Olympic Marathon 30 years ago today

30 years ago today on the 12th of August 1984, John Treacy won a silver medal in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Joanne Cuddihy runs 51.45 in Japan and qualifies for London

Last night in Japan, Joanne Cuddihy ran 51.45 in a 400 metre race which has qualified her for the 2012 Olympics in London. Her time in the 400m race at the Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet was 51.45, just ten one hundredths of a second inside the Olympic 'A' qualifying time of 51.55.

Joanne won the Australian National Championships back in April with a time of 51.69.

The Kilkenny City Harriers runner will next compete in the Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki this week where she is hoping to further improve on this time, according to Athletics Ireland.

Updated 6th May 2012...Joanne Cuddihy (Kilkenny AC) finished second in the 400m in Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki, Japan in 51.78, with the American Mary Wineberg third in 52.36. The World Champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana won the race in 50.52.

Fionnuala Britton achieves Olympic 'A' standard in California...

In the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University in California over the weekend, Fionnuala Britton from Wicklow ran 31:29.22 in the women's 10,000 metre race. As this is faster than the Olympic 'A' standard of 31:45, she has now qualified for the 10,000 metres in London.

Even though she had already qualified for the Olympics in the 3,000 metre steeplechase, it is generally felt that she would be a lot more competitive over the 5k/10k distance. This move to the track follows on from a successful winter season after she won the European Cross Country Championships in Slovenia last December.

Race result...
Event 59  Women 10000 Meter Run Kim McDonald
    Name                    Year School                  Finals
  1 Betsy Saina                  Unattached            31:15.97
  2 Amy Hastings                 Brooks                31:19.87
  3 Fionnuala Britton            Ireland               31:29.22
  4 Julia Bleasdale              Melbourne Tr          31:29.57
  5 Janet Cherobon-Bawcom        Unattached            31:33.50

This performance now makes Fionnula Britton the 4th fastest Irish woman over 10,000 metres...
1..30:47.59..Sonia O'Sullivan..
2..31:08.41..Catherina McKiernan
3..31:28.78..Marie Davenport
4..31:29.22...Fionnuala Britton


In the video clip above, Fionnuala is in the dark red top with purple shorts...(video is 34 mins long!)

Other Irish Results......

1) Alistair Cragg posts a DNF in the men's 10k despite running well for the first half.....video HERE
2) Orla Drumm ran 4:13.27 in the women's 1500 metres finishing in 5th place. This is just 7 seconds outside the Olympic 'A' standard of 4:06. Orla ran 4:18.48 at the recent Leevale track meet in mid-April...Results
3) Mark Christie...Ran 13:37.32 in Section 1 of the 5,000m (17th position)...Results
4) Brendan O'Neill...Ran 13:41.06 in Section 2 of the 5,000m (5th position)...Results
5) Kerry Harty...Ran 10:13.83 in the women's 3000m steeplechase...Results
6) Joe Sweeney...Ran 28:45.17 in section 2 of the 10,000 metres (25th position)...Results