Running is one of the most popular sports in modern times, with many of us running regularly to keep fit, socialise, be part of a community, compete and chase personal bests.
But when did running actually become a thing? Steph Davis, Olympian and coach for running app Runna, investigates.
When did running start? The early days
If we look back in history to when running first started, there isn’t a concrete date or a named person who was the first runner.
However, there are lots of fascinating milestones that have developed running into the sport it is today.
In the Old Stone Age, humans were running for survival. We ran to escape predators, hunt animals and move from A to B.
There was a need to run. It wasn’t always a choice or something to do for fun. It was a survival instinct.
When did running become a sport?
Running officially became a competitive sport in Olympia in Ancient Greece, where the first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC.
The one and only running race was a short sprint, with the marathon distance arriving a lot later.
In 490 BC the first unofficial ‘marathon’ took place – the legendary run of Pheidippides.
It’s believed that a Greek soldier ran approximately 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of a military victory against the Persians.
However, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that the marathon distance was formally standardised as 26.2 miles by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), now known as World Athletics.
When did women start competing in races?
In the 19th Century, competitive running and running races were happening in Europe with the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Running was only done in order to compete, and women’s racing was still very limited.
It wasn’t until 1926 when women began to run the marathon, and even then, they were not officially recognised as part of the race!
Violet Piercy was one of the first women to run a marathon and challenged the notion that women were too fragile to run.
When did running become a popular sport?
Running or jogging as we know it today, a form of exercise to keep fit or socialise, didn’t really begin until the 1960s.
Arthur Lydiard, a well renowned running coach from New Zealand and an advocate of running for better health, started the world's first jogging club in Auckland.
Its popularity grew when Bill Bowerman, an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, ended up going for a jog with Arthur Lydiard while on a running trip in New Zealand.
On Bill’s return to the US, he introduced jogging at the University of Oregon. This expanded to the masses when he wrote a book called Jogging in 1966.
While jogging was becoming more popular, women were still fighting a battle to run competitively.
It wasn’t until 1984, 88 years after the first modern Olympic Games, that the women's marathon was officially included in the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
This was a huge milestone in female running. America’s Joan Benoit won the first Olympic women's marathon.
The evolution of running in the 21st century
Running has become one of the most accessible sports, with can big events like the Abbot World Marathon majors (started in 2006) or our local ParkRun (the first ever ParkRun was in Bushy Park, London, in 2004) emerging.
From an elite perspective we have seen and continue to see incredible running performances.
In 2001 pacemakers (‘rabbis’) were introduced to help professional runners chase faster times, qualification standards or world records.
Pacemakers were a key part of the Breaking2 project, which saw Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge run the first-ever sub-two-hour marathon in 2019.
That same year, we also saw Paula Radcliffe’s long standing marathon world record broken by Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, who ran 2:14 at the Chicago Marathon.
Technology now plays a huge role in our running, from training plans, our kit (including the best running shoes and those expensive carbon plate running shoes) , sport watches and being able to analyse physiological and biomechanical data to improve our running ability and efficiency.
It’s an exciting time to see where the sport will go next!
Looking for some help with your run training? Sign up to Runna and you can access personalised training plans from the likes of Steph Davis and pro triathlete Beth Potter. Plus, sign up via this link or use code 220T and you can get a two-week free trial.
Top image credit: Pexels
