Some Links to some of the byways of Athletic History:
- Scotland's Olympic Team?
- If Scotland gains independence from the rest of the United Kingdon, would it be able to enter separate
teams in the Olympics? Actually, It Already Has...
- The 1908 London Marathon
- This Paper gives a detailed account
of the 1908 London Olympic Marathon, including some photographs and the rebuttal of some myths about the event.
This race was in a sense the first modern
marathon: the course was stated to be 26 miles, 385 yards long (with road alignments, this cannot be exactly proved), but
eventually athletics standardised on this distance (earlier Olympic marathons were held over various distances).
Yes, there were refreshment stations, offering, among other options, OXO (okay, the firm were sponsors). But how many
athletes would have wanted that on what turned out to be a scorching hot day?
Here are some
More Images of that 1908 event.
- Banned For Life ... For Coming Second?
- This is the story of William Snook, who fell foul of the Victorian athletics
authorities for coming second in a race which everyone expected him to win.
- The Olympic Athletics of 1908
- Your Time Machine has taken you back to the London Olympics of 1908: a very different scene from London 2012
- 1904: The Forgotten Olympics
- ... possibly because Britain had nobody there?
- Some Discarded Events from the Modern Olympics
- Many events (some would say too many) have been added to the Olympic calendar, but you can read
here about some of those which have disappeared.
Maybe they should have gone, maybe they shouldn't ...
- Old-Time Athletics
- This website includes an excellent history of Hull Harriers
(now absorbed into City of Hull AC), which gives an illuminating view of the sport before synthetic tracks and
smart changing rooms became the norm (for most of us, anyway).
- Bargain Offers on Athletics Equipment
- Follow This Link to find some bargains on athletics equipment -- although there may be some
availability problems ...