🔗 Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics: Men's Marathon

🔗 Olympics 🔗 Athletics

The men's marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, United States, took place on August 30 of that year, over a distance of 24.85 miles (40 km).

The race was run during the hottest part of the day on dusty country roads with minimal water supply; while thirty-two athletes representing four nations competed, only 14 managed to complete the race, which was a bizarre affair due to poor organization and officiating. While Fred Lorz was greeted as the apparent winner, he was later disqualified as he had hitched a ride in a car for part of the race. The actual winner, Thomas Hicks, was near collapse and hallucinating by the end of the race, a side effect of being administered brandy, raw eggs, and strychnine by his trainers. The fourth-place finisher, Andarín Carvajal, took a nap during the race after eating spoiled apples.