Running know-how
42.2 and 21.1: What the numbers on your running shirt mean
Anyone who has run a marathon never forgets the number: 42.195 kilometres. On shirts, stickers and medals it usually appears shorter, as 42.2. For the half marathon it is 21.1. But why such an odd number?
Why exactly 42.195 kilometres?
It goes back to a legend: a messenger is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to announce victory over the Persians. That was roughly 40 kilometres. At the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, the race was therefore around 40 kilometres, and for the next few years the distance varied a little from race to race.
Then came London 1908. The course started at Windsor Castle and was meant to finish in the Olympic stadium right in front of the royal box. The result: 26 miles and 385 yards, exactly 42.195 kilometres. In 1921 the international athletics federation made it the official marathon distance. So the last 195 metres, the ones that feel endless at kilometre 42, are down to royal seating arrangements. Thanks for nothing.
And the half marathon?
Exactly half: 21.0975 kilometres, rounded to 21.1. For many runners it is the entry to long distance racing, for others the favourite distance, because you can still climb stairs afterwards.
42.2, 42.195 or 26.2?
In everyday running talk it is 42.2 and 21.1. That is the short form understood everywhere, and it is how our shirts are named. On the shirt itself, though, you get the full number: 42.195 for the marathon, 21.0975 for the half. If you ran that far, you do not give away a single metre. In countries that use miles it is 26.2 and 13.1, and if you prefer, the print shows the distance in miles.
And what about 70.3 and 140.6?
Triathletes know those. They are miles: the middle distance adds up to 70.3 miles (1.9 km swim, 90 km bike, 21.1 km run), the full distance to 140.6 miles (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and then a full marathon). Finish one of those and you are allowed to wear the number where people can see it.
The number you earned
That is what VELYX is about. Every Raceday shirt carries a city skyline on the back with the race distance below it, to the metre: 42.195 for the marathon, 21.0975 for the half. For example the Munich 42.2 shirt, the Berlin 42.2 shirt or, for the half marathon by the lake, the Tegernsee 21.1 shirt.
Not a shirt you simply buy. One you run for first.
