The men's 3 miles team race was a unique event featured only at the 1908 Summer Olympics

1908 Summer Olympics

The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England, United Kingdom. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic games...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. In the team race, each competing nation sent five athletes. For each heat, the top three athletes from each nation had their placings counted as part of the team score, though good performances by the other two could also help the team by worsening the scores of other teams. Team scores were arrived at by adding the rankings of the top three runners from the team, with low scores being desirable. Thus, a team that took the first three places in a heat would receive 1+2+3=6 points, the best possible score.

First round

There were two heats in the first round, with three teams competing in each. The top two teams from each heat advanced to the final.

First round, heat 1

The four British athletes finished the race hand-in-hand; official reports give them a joint first place in the heat though assigning points to the team as if they had placed first through fourth. Thus, Great Britain and Ireland received 1+2+3=6 points. Neither Italy nor Holland had three men finish the race, and thus they had no score and were unable to advance to the final.

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Points
1	W. Coales	Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....	15:05.6	1
	Joe Deakin	Great Britain and Ireland	15:05.6	2 (+1=3)
	Archie Robertson	Great Britain and Ireland	15:05.6	3 (+1+2=6)
	Harold A. Wilson Harold A. Wilson Harold Allan Wilson was an English athlete. Born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, he won the silver medal in the men's 1500 metres race at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, competing on the Great Britain and Ireland team...	Great Britain and Ireland	15:05.6	X
5	P. Pagliani	Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...	15:22.6	5
6	M. Cartasegna	Italy	16:26.0	6 (+5=11)
7	A. C. H. Vosbergen	Holland Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...	17:15.8	7
8	W. W. Wakker	Holland	17:46.4	8 (+7=15)
DNF	W. T. Braams	Holland	N/A (+7+8=X)
DNF	P. Dorando	Italy	N/A (+5+6=X)
DNF	E. Giovanoli	Italy	X
DNF	Norman Hallows Norman Hallows Norman Frederic Hallows was an English athlete. Educated at Felsted School, he won the bronze medal and set an Olympic record in the men's 1500 metres race at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, competing on the Great Britain and Ireland team.His time in the first round was 4:03.4, beating the...	Great Britain and Ireland	X
DNF	Emilio Lunghi Emilio Lunghi Emilio Lunghi was an Italian athlete. He won the silver medal in the men's 800 metres race at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, making him the first Italian to win an Olympic medal....	Italy	X

First round, heat 2

The United States team finished with 10 points, France had 15, and Sweden had 21. The top six runners finished in proximity, but the fact that three of the runners were American ensured the top spot to the United States.

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Points
1	J. Bouin	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	14:53.0	1
2	John Eisele John Eisele John Eisele was an American athlete. He won the silver medal in the 3 mile team race and bronze medal in the 3,200 metres steeplechase at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London....	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	14:55.0	2
3	Herbert Trube Herbert Trube Herbert Trube was an American athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics....	United States	14:55.0	3 (+2=5)
4	L. de B. de Fleurac	France	14:56.0	4 (+1=5)
5	G. V. Bonhag	United States	14:56.4	5 (+2+3=10)
6	J. F. Svanberg	Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....	14:57.0	6
7	J. G. Peterson	Sweden	15:14.4	7 (+6=13)
8	E. M. Dahl	Sweden	15:21.0	8 (+6+7=21)
9	A. J. A. Wiegant	Sweden	15:33.0	X
10	J. Dreher	France	15:37.2	10 (+1+4=15)
11	G. A. Dull	United States	15:37.4	X
12	S. L. Landqvist	Sweden	15:46.4	X
13	A. Fayollat	France	15:52.2	X
14	Paul Lizandier Paul Lizandier Paul Lizandier was a French athlete who competed mainly in the 3 mile team.He competed for a France in the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London, Great Britain in the 3 mile team where he won the bronze medal with his team mates Louis de Fleurac and Joseph Dreher.-References:*...	France	15:56.6	X
DNS	H. W. Conn	United States		X

Final

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Points
1	Joe Deakin	Great Britain and Ireland	14:39.6	1
2	Archie Robertson	Great Britain and Ireland	14:41.0	2 (+1=3)
3	W. Coales	Great Britain and Ireland	14:41.6	3 (+1+2=6)
4	John Eisele	United States	14:41.8	4
5	Harold A. Wilson	Great Britain and Ireland	14:57.0	X
6	G. V. Bonhag	United States	15:05.0	6 (+4=10)
7	Norman Hallows	Great Britain and Ireland	15:08.0	X
8	L. de B. de Fleurac	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	15:08.4	8
9	H. L. Trube	United States	15:11.0	9 (+4+6=19)
10	G. A. Dull	United States	15:27.0	X
11	J. Dreher	France	15:40.0	11 (+8=19)
12	H. W. Conn	United States	15:40.2	X
13	P. Lijandier	France	16:03.0	13 (+8+11=32)
DNS	J. Bouin	France		X
DNS	A. Fayollat	France		X