Marathon running, as we know it, hails back to Athens in 1896 and the first modern Olympiad. But the inspiration for this most classic of challenges hails back to a mythical Greek messenger named Pheidippides. Depending on which of history’s great bards you believe, Pheidippides ran 24 miles between Marathon and Athens to announce an Athenian victory in the Battle of Marathon. Upon delivering the message he dropped down dead, and so was born the great nobility of long distance running and the challenge they eventually dubbed “the marathon.”

It was that great feat that inspired the first Olympic marathon and 78 years later a similarly inspiring race took place right here in Christchurch. Like the marathon itself, Christchurch’s SBS Marathon was inspired by one of the greatest races in history. In the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, on the same basic route that you will follow, Great Britain’s Ian Thompson ran the then second fastest marathon of all time.

It was one of histories greatest marathon races. Favourites included the two fastest men in history, Australia’s Derek Clayton and Great Britain’s Ron Hill. Clayton held the world’s fastest marathon at 2hrs 08min 28secs while Hill was the defending Commonwealth Champion, Boston Marathon winner and second fastest ever with 2:09.28. But it was an unknown Brit and an underrated New Zealander who set the roads alight

Ian Thompson was a surprise selection for the English marathon team, winning his debut marathon at the English trials to book a ticket to New Zealand. Rotorua’s Jack Foster had booked his ticket for New Zealand some 20 years previously when he left the UK to become a Kiwi. The cycling enthusiast only took to running at age 33, but at 37 he was a world-class marathoner and had finished fourth at the 1970 Commonwealth Games behind Hill.

With so many world class runners in the marathon field the pace was always going to be fast. After looking over the flat course and fast line up Derek Clayton said he wouldn’t be surprised if the world record was broken. With Hill and Clayton both merciless front-runners the early pace was certainly on world record schedule, with 10k going by in 30min 30secs. But by 15k it was Thompson calling the shots and when the race hit half way in less than 64min he was 10 metres ahead and running away to an amazing 2hrs 9min 12secs.

It was the second fastest time in history and behind him Jack Foster was dragged along to a New Zealand record 2hrs 11min 18secs to secure the silver medal. Even more noteworthy, however, was Foster’s age – at 41 he became the fastest masters marathoner in history. To this day Ian Thompson’s effort remains the fastest marathon run on New Zealand soil. Foster’s run is still the fastest ever by a New Zealander in New Zealand and his masters world record lasted until 1990 when another New Zealander (and SBS Marathon winner) John Campbell, trimmed a few seconds of it in Boston.

In the wake of such as race it was no surprise that people started taking to the streets of Christchuch. This was the mid-70s; the fitness boom was starting to take hold and by 1977 the running boom had reached our shores. Christchurch’s great marathon was still fresh in people’s minds and in 1978 local long distance guru Don Cameron and the Long Distance Running Club of New Zealand decided to rekindle that inspiration into an annual marathon over the historic Commonwealth Games course.

Cameron wasn’t a man to do things in halves. In 1974 he had run his own bit of history when running the 2200k between Bluff and Cape Reinga. At Queens Birthday Weekend 1978 he made more history, organising New Zealand’s first mid-winter marathon, the first New Zealand marathon to combine a half marathon and the first New Zealand marathon to welcome recreational runners alongside official club runners.

The race was called the Sedley Wells Midwinter Marathon. It broke new ground, bringing the American fun run-type formula to the until then officious realm of New Zealand marathon running. Five hundred and twenty five people from all ends of New Zealand, Australia, the UK and USA lined up, with Christchurch’s Tony Good taking the win ahead of other equally colourful personalities such as Penny Kissock and Alison Tait, who became the fastest South Island women (3:01.55 & 3:05.55), Michael Marquet, who clocked in at 3:12.41 despite his meagre 14 years, and New Brighton runner Frances Clarke, who at age 55 became the oldest women in New Zealand to have completed a marathon.

But despite this success and an increase of almost 25 percent the following year, the event was still not quite what Cameron had envisaged. Traffic restrictions had forced them to run a two-lap course from QEII stadium to Horseshoe Lake, River Road, along the Avon River and returning on the opposite side of the river via Avonside Drive. But by 1981 Cameron and co-organiser Rod Rutherford had made the event such a success that the council allowed them to travel right through the city on the original Commonwealth Games course… and the “City of Christchurch International Marathon” was born

The 1974 Commonwealth Games course started at QEII Stadium and traveled around the Avon River, through Hagley Park, along Memorial Avenue to the Airport and back. It was flat, fast and scenic, and had a ready-made spectator following as it passed the letterboxes of several thousand residents.

Rekindling this course turned out to be a stroke of genius, with Rod Rutherford’s marketing ability attracting sponsors and more than 1000 runners lining up for the combined full and half marathon. Wellington’s Steve Denholm won, breaking the 2hrs 20min barrier, while Christchurch’s own Christine Burden became one of the 10 fastest Kiwi women with 2hrs 44min 05sec.

Following years saw Kiwi standouts such as Gerald Dravitski, John Dixon and Tom Birnie and John Campbell take the race record down to a classy 2hrs 15min 12secs. In 1986 John Campbell qualified for the Commonwealth Games with a win at Christchurch, but it was Birnie who dominated this first decade, winning the race four times between 1984 and 1992 and his record still stands today.

Women too have enjoyed an illustrious history in Christchurch. In 1982 Japan’s Naenae Sasaki clocked a world class 2hrs 35min to set a Japanese record. Since then women from England and the USA have won the marathon, plus Kiwi Olympians such as Marguirite Buist and Liza Hunter-Galvin. But Naenae Sasaki’s 2hrs 35min set 24 years ago remains the fastest time by a woman on this course.

Today, mass participation in sport and recreation has made Christchurch a huge event. The half marathon has become more popular than the full distance and the list of winners just as illustrious. Olympic medallist Dick Quax (1984), Olympic finalist Peter Renner (1991 & 1992) and world mountain running champion Jonathan Wyatt set the national resident record (2002). Olympic finalists Dianne Rodger (1982), Anne Hare (1993 & 1997) and Mary O’Conner have also won in Christchurch.

O’Connor is an icon over the half marathon at Christchurch; setting a national record in 1984 during a 13 year reign that saw her win 11 titles in the open womens race and four as a veteran. Her 1:11.41 stood until 2005 when Nina Rillstone set a NZ record of 1:10.49. O'Connor's veteran woman's record stood until 2003 when Nyla Carroll ran 1:12.28.

The men have also run extremely fast in the half marathon. In 1994 Christchurch’s own Paul Smith ran a scorching race record 1:02.41 that withstood challenges from people as classy as Renner and Alan Bunce. In 2001 Commonwealth Games reps Phil Costley and Bunce made a concerted attack at the record that saw Costley equal Smith’s time. The following year Costley was joined in another record attempt by world mountain running champion Jonathan Wyatt, with Wyatt stealing the home town hero’s thunder when he clocked an amazing 1:02.37 to equal Dick Quax’s 23 year old New Zealand resident record.

Among veteran men, 1967 Boston Marathon winner Dave McKenzie set the trend by winning the vets half marathon in 1983 and his training partner Eddie Gray, a former world cross-country medalist, followed suite with a string of wins, including a 1:06.18 in 1985.

Veterans have always run fast at Christchurch, starting with the inaugural event when Jack Foster returned at age 50 to clock an amazing 2hrs 22min 48secs that is still the veterans course record. Christchurch’s own Allan Sinclair, who finished second overall in 1983, came close to Fosters time in 1999 when he finished second overall again in 2hrs 22min 55secs.

Allan Sinclair waited almost 20 years before he could win his hometown marathon. In the early 1980s he was a 2:16 marathoner who narrowly missed the 1982 Commonwealth Games team as well as several narrow loses in Christchurch. But at age 43, he made a comeback following 10 years away from the sport and finally won the race overall.

In many ways Allan Sinclair is no different to the thousands of others who keep coming back for what we now know as the SBS Marathon – Christchurch. From 500 runners in 1978, today's event attracts close to 4000 participants.

While today's SBS marathon is vastly different to a quarter of a century ago, the inspiration behind it remains the same. New innovations such as the Christchurch Townhall race base, a 10k fun run, welcoming walkers and the Kids Mara’Fun have brought more colour, character and thus people to the event. But when you line up you’ll still be following the same route of one of histories greatest ever marathons… which gives each and every one of you a small stake in a continuing legacy.