William Dalrymple (historian)

Polytechnic Marathon
Start of the 1967 Polytechnic Marathon at Windsor Castle
Location	London
Distance	marathon
Established	1909
Last held	1996

The Polytechnic Marathon, often called the Poly, was a marathon held annually between 1909 and 1996, over various courses in or near London. It was the first marathon to be run regularly over the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards which is now the global standard. A total of eight world marathon bests were set in the Poly, including the first authenticated time under 2 hours, 20 minutes which had been regarded as the marathon equivalent of the four-minute mile. At the time of its demise in 1996, the Poly was Europe's oldest regular marathon. It had seen more world records and had been run over 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi) more often than any other marathon.

The Polytechnic Marathon had its origins in the marathon of the 1908 Summer Olympics, held in London. This race was organised by the Polytechnic Harriers, the athletics club of the London Polytechnic at Regent Street (now the University of Westminster). In those days, there was no set distance for the marathon; it was simply a long race, around 40 km (25 mi) in length. The Polytechnic Harriers decided to start the Olympic marathon in front of the Royal apartments at Windsor Castle and end it on the track at White City Stadium in front of the Royal Box, a distance that turned out to be 26 miles, 385 yards.

There was immense public interest in the 1908 Olympic race, with its dramatic finish in which Dorando Pietri of Italy entered the stadium well clear of the field and staggered around the last lap to the finish line—only to be disqualified for receiving assistance. Building on this interest, The Sporting Life newspaper offered a magnificent trophy^[1] for an annual international marathon that would be second in importance only to the Olympic event itself. The Polytechnic Harriers were again asked to organise the event, and the Polytechnic Marathon was born.

The first Polytechnic Marathon was held on 8 May 1909.^[2] Henry Barrett won, followed by Fred Lord, and Harry Green.^[2]

As with the Olympic race, the start was at Windsor Castle and the course was 26 miles, 385 yards; this distance was adopted as the international standard for marathons in 1924. (The older Boston Marathon, founded in 1897, adopted the 42.195-kilometre (26.219 mi) distance in 1924, but was slightly short for the first three years and was shorter still from 1951 to 1956.^[3])

Over the years, the route of the Poly Marathon varied. From 1909 until 1932, it ended at Stamford Bridge in west London; then in 1933, it moved back to the White City stadium, where the 1908 Olympic marathon had finished. From 1938, the race ended at the new Polytechnic Harriers stadium in Chiswick, west London. It was on this course that Jim Peters, the greatest marathoner of his day, broke the 2 hours and 20 minutes barrier in 1953. Even more remarkably, remeasurement showed the course to have been about 150 yards too long.

In 1961, The Sporting Life withdrew its sponsorship, having ceased to report on athletics. A new sponsor was found in the form of confectionery company Callard and Bowser; and in the next few years, the race went from strength to strength, with a succession of world records (see table).

By 1970, the Polytechnic Harriers and the Poly Marathon were in decline. Traffic problems made it difficult to continue with the Windsor-to-Chiswick route, and from 1973 until 1992, the race was restricted to the Windsor area. Performances declined, and so did the status of the Poly Marathon. With the introduction of mass marathons and big-money events elsewhere, the Poly Marathon could not compete.

There were organizational changes, too. In 1985, the Polytechnic Harriers merged with Kingston AC and moved in with them at Kingsmeadow Stadium in Kingston, Surrey. Some ex-Polytechnic Harriers remained at the Polytechnic sports ground in Hartington Road, Chiswick, where they formed a new club—West 4 Harriers—which was to become involved with the Polytechnic Marathon some years later.

Management of the race passed to the London Road Runners Club (LRRC) for 1986 and 1987, but the LRRC then folded. After a four-year gap, the race was revived in 1992 by Capital Road Runners (an even shorter-lived successor to LRRC) in conjunction with West 4 Harriers. A revised route was introduced, from Windsor to the Polytechnic stadium at Chiswick, recalling the event's former glory days.

From 1993 to 1995, the Poly Marathon was organised by a group from West 4 Harriers. In 1996, responsibility passed to a commercial events organiser, but increased traffic and other difficulties made it impossible to keep the race going beyond 1996.

World records set in the Polytechnic Marathon.^[4]

Note 1: Date wrongly given as 26 May in some sources. Note 2: Distance measured as 42.337 km.

Year	Winner	Club	Time	Notes
1909	Henry Barrett	Polytechnic Harriers	2.42.31	WR
1910 No race owing to the death of HM The King
1911	Harry Green	Herne Hill Harriers	2.46.29 & 4/5ths
1912	Jim Corkery	Canada	2.36.55 & 2/5ths
1913	Alexis Ahlgren	Sweden	2.36.06 & 3/5ths	WR
1914	Ahmed Djebellia	France	2.46.30 & 4/5ths
1915-1918 No races during World War I
1919	Edward Woolston	Machine Gun Corps	2.52.30 & 1/5th
1920	Bobby Mills	Leicester H	2.37.40 & 2/5ths
1921	Bobby Mills	Leicester H	2.51.00 & 2/5ths
1922	Bobby Mills	Leicester H	2.47.30 & 2/5ths
1923	Axel Jensen	Denmark	2.40.46 & 4/5ths
1924	Dunky Wright	Scotland	2.53.17 & 2/5ths
1925	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.35.58 & 1/5th
1926	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.42.24 & 1/5th
1927	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.40.32 & 1/5th
1928	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.41.02 & 1/5th
1929	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.40.47 & 2/5ths
1930	Stanley Smith	Birchfield Harriers	2.41.55
1931	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.35.31 & 4/5ths
1932	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.36.32 & 2/5ths
1933	Sam Ferris	Royal Air Force	2.42.24
1934	Dunky Wright	Scotland	2.56.30
1935	Bert Norris	Polytechnic Harriers	2.48.37
1936	Bert Norris	Polytechnic Harriers	2.35.20
1937	Bert Norris	Polytechnic Harriers	2.48.40
1938	Henri Palme	Sweden	2.42.00
1939	Henri Palme	Sweden	2.36.56
1940	Leslie Griffiths	Herne Hill Harriers	2.53.41
1941	Gerry Humphreys	Woodford Green AC	3.12.36
1942	Leslie Griffiths	Reading AC	2.53.56
1943	Leslie Griffiths	Reading AC	2.53.14
1944	Tom Richards	Mitcham AC	2.48.45
1945	Tom Richards	Mitcham AC	2.56.39
1946	Harry Oliver	Reading AC	2.38.12
1947	Cecil Ballard	Surrey AC	2.36.52
1948	Jack Holden	Tipton Harriers	2.36.44
1949	Jack Holden	Tipton Harriers	2.42.52
1950	Jack Holden	Tipton Harriers	2.33.07
1951	Jim Peters	Essex Beagles	2.29.24
1952	Jim Peters	Essex Beagles	2.20.42	WR
1953	Jim Peters	Essex Beagles	2.18.40	WR
1954	Jim Peters	Essex Beagles	2.17.39	WR
1955	Bill McMinnis	Royal Air Force	2.36.23
1956	Ron Clark	Herne Hill Harriers	2.20.16
1957	Eddie Kirkup	Rotherham H	2.37.04.4
1958	Colin Kemball	Wolverhampton H	2.22.27
1959	Denis O'Gorman	St Albans AC	2.25.11
1960	Arthur Keily	Derby & County AC	2.19.06
1961	Peter Wilkinson	Derby & County AC	2.20.25
1962	Ron Hill	Bolton United AC	2.20.59
1963	Buddy Edelen	Hadleigh Olympiads AC & USA	2.14.28	WR
1964	Basil Heatley	Coventry Godiva Harriers	2.13.55	WR
1965	Morio Shigematsu	Japan	2.12.00	WR
1966	Graham Taylor	Cambridge Harriers	2.19.04
1967	Fergus Murray	Oxford University AC	2.19.06
1968	Kenji Kimihara	Japan	2.15.15
1969	Phil Hampton	Royal Navy AC South	2.25.22
1970	Don Faircloth	Croydon Harriers	2.18.15
1971	Phil Hampton	Royal Navy AC South	2.18.31
1972	Don Faircloth	Croydon Harriers	2.31.52
1973	Robert Sercombe	Newport H	2.19.48
1974	Akio Usami	Japan	2.15.16
No race in 1975
1976	Bernie Plain	Cardiff AAC	2.15.43
1977	Ian Thompson	Luton AC	2.14.32
1978	David Francis	Westbury H	2.19.05
1979	Mike Gratton	Invicta AC	2.19.53
1980	Tony Byrne	Salford Harriers	2.22.23
1981	Bernie Plain	Cardiff AAC	2.24.07
1982	Graham Ellis	Holmfirth H	2.23.28
1983	Alan McGee	Southampton & Eastleigh AAC	2.22.55
1984	David Catlow	Cheltenham H	2.26.02
1985	Terry Donaghy	London Road Runners	2.33.02
1986	Hugh Jones	Ranelagh H	2.26.11
1987	Mick McGeoch	Les Croupiers	2.28.49
No races from 1988 to 1991
1992	Hugh Jones	Ranelagh H	2.22.58
1993	Jonathan Hooper	Bridgend AC	2.25.55
1994	Chris Buckley	Westbury H	2.21.57
1995	Valery Zolotkov	Russia	2.20.46
1996	Marc Verrdytt	Belgium	2.23.43

• Kingston AC & Polytechnic Harriers website
• The Polytechnic Marathon 1909–1996 by Ian Ridpath (race director 1993–95)
• University of Westminster archives