26 Miles 385 Yards is an account of the development of the marathon, mainly but not exclusively in Britain, by respected athletics historian and writer Bob Phillips, starting in 1896 and covering all the Olympic marathons. It is not written in a pedantic, strictly chronological fashion but covering various aspects of the event.
There is a whole chapter on women running long distances and also running the marathon, there is one on the Vancouver Commonwealth Games marathon when Joe McGhee defeated Jim Peters, on the Boston Marathon, on the Finnish contribution and the four Kolehmainen brothers and many others. Scots figure in the event coverage with Dunky Wright winning the first British Empire Games marathon in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930, Joe McGhee, Jock Semple, Sam Stevenson and others all figuring in it.
First published in 2023, it is in paperback now at £16:99 although you can probably get it cheaper on Amazon! Well worth the money but you could almost certainly get it through the library.
