The First Kyiv Marathon of 1913: How It Happened
August 24, 1913, was a landmark day in the sporting history of Kyiv. That day, as part of the First All-Russian Olympiad, the city hosted its first marathon.
How It Began
At noon on August 20, the Sports Field in Lukianivka, near the site of the Kyivska Rus cinema, was packed with people. All of Kyiv seemed to have gathered for the grand opening of the Olympiad. More than six hundred athletes had come from every corner of the Russian Empire.
They competed in many disciplines: track and field, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, marathon running, fencing, swimming, shooting, horse racing, cycling and even motorcycle racing. For those few days the city lived and breathed sport: the competitions dominated the Kyiv press, and people talked about them on the streets, at the markets and in the shops. High school students were especially delighted, since classes were canceled for the duration of the games.
Fencers, jumpers, swimmers, sailors and rowers all competed. On the Matviivska Bay of the Dnipro, judges picked the strongest athletes. Swimmers demonstrated six main styles: ordinary breaststroke; breaststroke "a la caisse"; racing breaststroke; the trudgen (a freestyle stroke resembling the crawl); sidestroke; and the American and Austrian crawl. The warm August water of the Dnipro helped them post fast times at every distance.
The Marathon: A Novelty
The marathon was the main event of the First All-Russian Olympiad and was being held for the first time. The press erupted in debates over whether the race was humane, and the public questioned whether it should be held at all. A journalist for the newspaper Kyivska Dumka, writing under the pen name Harold, summed up the novelty this way: "The marathon is the highlight of the Olympiad, albeit an unwelcome highlight."
The marathon was scheduled for the last day of the games, August 24, 1913. The start was set for early morning, eight and a half kilometers from the village of Hurivshchyna on the Zhytomyr Highway, near the farmstead of a Mr. Kail. To make sure the runners would be at the start on time, all of them were taken there by special transport the evening before. They spent the night on a hayloft with no comforts whatsoever.
On Your Marks! Get Set! Clap!
The night itself was the first ordeal. The morning turned out foggy and cool.
And the trials did not end there. The start was nearly derailed by the simple absent-mindedness of a judge who traveled out to the starting line at dawn: the hapless official forgot his starting pistol. This awkward episode was even recorded in the official chronicle of the First All-Russian Olympiad. Instead of a gunshot, the start over the Zhytomyr Highway was signaled by the frantic clapping of several judges.
At 7:00 a.m., fifteen men set off from the start near Hurivshchyna. The route ran along the Zhytomyr Highway, the Brest-Litovsk Highway (today's Beresteiskyi Avenue) and the Kadetske Highway to the Sports Field in Lukianivka. Tables with drinks and food (oranges, lemons, chocolate and other provisions) were set up along the course so the athletes could refuel and quench their thirst, along with first-aid stations. The course measured 40 km 665.5 m (38 versts 56 sazhens).
A detachment of Cossacks escorted the runners. On the Zhytomyr Highway, Kyiv native Alekseyenko took the lead and held it all the way to the city. As the race went on it grew harder and harder, and not only from fatigue: the course had not been properly prepared. The newspaper Kievlianin wrote on August 25: "The farther from Hurivshchyna, the harder the road the runners must travel. The highway is under repair; part of it has been torn up and part has not yet been fully repaved; there is gravel and sand everywhere, which gets into the shoes and badly chafes the skin. Most of the race has to be run on the roadside, which is very awkward because it is so narrow."
Not Everyone Finished
As he approached Kyiv, Alekseyenko's legs seized up with cramps and he could not go on. F. Negoru, a correspondent for Kyivska Dumka, described the scene: "In Sviatoshyn there are crowds of summer residents. They watch, some in horror, some with pity, and many hold out water to the runners. Now the runners truly make a painful impression. Every step, every breath shows incredible fatigue and complete exhaustion. And now one understands all the horror, all the cruelty of this famous marathon race."
The winner was Maksimov of St. Petersburg, who covered the 40 km 665.5 m (38 versts 56 sazhens) in 3 hours 3 minutes and received the top prize of the First All-Russian Olympiad, a laurel wreath. Second place went to Shchipun of St. Petersburg in 3 hours 4 minutes 30 seconds. Third place was shared by Timofeyev of St. Petersburg and Snimshchikov of Kyiv, who crossed the line together in exactly 3 hours 20 minutes. Fifth place went to Vasiliev of Moscow (3 hours 21 minutes) and sixth to Trusov of St. Petersburg. In all, 11 athletes reached the finish.
In its organization, scale, number of participants and spectators, the Kyiv Olympiad not only lived up to expectations but in many ways exceeded them. The city was overflowing with joy. Winners, participants and spectators alike enjoyed an unforgettable celebration of sport, beauty and health.
