The marathon is 26.2 miles (42.195 km) long because of the distance set for the 1908 London Olympic marathon which was between two London landmarks - Windsor Castle & White City Stadium. The weird extra 0.2 miles arose because Queen Alexandra wanted young members of the Royal family to watch the event so a different entrance to the stadium had to be selected, adding 385 yards to the more typical distance. This longer route was subsequently adopted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) as the official standard in 1921.