Marathon

Have you heard of the Olympic Game? Athletes and sportsmen from all over the world come together. They run and jump and swim and ride horses and play many different sports and games. The Olympic Games are held every four years. One of the most famous Olympic races is Marathon Race. Only the strongest man can run this race of nearly thirty miles.

          first Marathon Race and a great Olympic hero.

          This is the story of the first Marathon Race and a great Olympic hero. The first Olympic Games were held at Mount Olympus in Greece thousands of years ago. There were many city- states in ancient Greece. Each city ruled the land around it. So it was called a city-state. Athens and Sparta were the strongest among the city-states. These two were great rivals. Athens had great artists and wise teachers. Sparta had strong, brave soldiers.

Darius was the King of Persia. He wanted to conquer Greece. He sent a great army to Greece in 490 B.C. Athens heard the news. They knew that the Persian horseman were the best in the world. The Athenians thought of taking the help of the Spartans to defeat a common enemy. But Sparta was more than a hundred miles south of Athens. There was very little time to send a message.
           The first runner in all Greece was Phidippides. He was an Athenian. He had won the races in the last Olympic Games. He was a toll handsome boy. He was brave and strong as a young lion. So the Athenians asked Phidippides to run to Sparta and he ran like a deer uphill and downhill. He swam across rivers and climbed over mountains. He never stopped for too long. He knew how much Athens needed help. At last he reached Sparta. He told the Spartans, ”I have been running for three days to bring this news. We must fight together against Persia.”The Spartans did not want to help Athens. So they said, “we have an important festival now. We shall come after that.

          Phidippides ran back to Athens. Hearing this bad news the Athenians fought like heroes to the death. The Greek army met the Persians at a place called Marathon, beside the sea. They attacked the Persians like ten thousand heroes. The Athenians fight like tigers. At last Athens won the Battle of Marathon. It is one of the greatest battles in history. The Athenians were very happy. They told  Pheddipides to run to Athens from marathon to give the good news. The people of Athens waited anxiously for the news.  They saw their young hero running twords them.He ran as far as the gate of the coty and fell into the arms of his friends. He had run his last race. His heart break as he feel. His last worgs were, “Rejoice! We have won”.