Marathon comes a full circle

Marathon is the locale of myth — the demigod Theseus is said to have slain the Marathon Bull here – the site of an epochal battle in 490 BC, the cradle, in a sense, of the Greek nation.

As the commentators reminded the crowd at the start of the race, it was from here 2,500 years ago – a century and a half before Alexander invaded India – that a soldier named Pheidippides ran to the people to Athens to tell them that their army had defeated the invading Persians. The arrival of the Persians on the beaches of Marathon had been a momentous event. A rampant Eastern power was threatening what was, really, the capital of the West, an early visitation of that perennial ghost, the Clash of Civilisations.

Pheidippides, the story goes, first ran to Sparta — 140 miles from Athens — to ask for help and then came back home to join his army. The battleground of Marathon is said to be near the current Lake Marathon, a large and largely tranquil expanse of water that betrays its tempestuous past.

After the battle was won, Pheidippides ran again to Athens. He arrived exhausted, only managed to exclaim, ‘‘Rejoice! We conquer’’ — and died.

Some historians say the story is just that, a story. Whatever the quibbling, for the runners and spectators today, it was the occasion that mattered, the aura, not the facts. Flanked by the Hills of Attica, overlooking Lake Marathon, the runners ran down Marathonos Avenue, a stretch on the highway to Athens. It was time for goose pimples.

Marathon today is a cusp between large village and small town. Ruins are few and far between. More prominent are the charming bric-a-brac stores, lovely little cottages, typically Balkan stone churches, a Vietnamese restaurant — perhaps as a reminder that east and west can meet — even a McDonald’s with outdoor seating.

Yet, as the starting point of the toughest event at the Games — the men’s marathon will follow the same route on Sunday, August 29 — it was about the most appropriate. Modern sport is all science and technology; the marathon is still a showcase of tradition and effort.

Already the Chinese are murmuring that the Beijing marathon in 2008 will be run a little outside their capital, alongside the Great Wall. What picture postcard journey will India send the runners on in 2010, when the Commonwealth Games arrive in New Delhi?

Whatever else it may do, the IOA cannot possibly appropriate Marathon, the place, not the race. Today, a handful of humanity remembered the time when one man, his armour still soaked in the blood of war, began the run that changed his destiny. He had no jogging shoes, no bottled water, not even sun block — just his will, his drive, his self-belief.

Noguchi did it too, she did it for a medal. Pheidippides did it for immortality.