Thursday, May 31, 2012

Run for the Gold

Picture from Kateoplis (click to enlarge)
These three fellows are running the marathon in the first modern Olympics, held in Athens in 1896. It was a 25 mile race from Marathon to Athens. I have no idea who the three in the picture are, but Spyridon Louis of Greece won with a time of 2:58:50, followed by his fellow countryman Kharilaos Vasilakos at 3:06:03. After a successful protest, Gyula Kellner of Hungary placed third at 3:06:35.

The American Arthur Blake finished in 13th place, although he only lasted for a little over half of the course before dropping out of the race.

I rather like the fact that they're running in long pants and whatever shirt they wore that morning. It seems like the sort of clothes an amateur would wear. I wonder what their shoes were like?


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