# Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 3 miles team race

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

## Records

This was the Olympic debut of this event. The world record for the 3 miles individual event at the time was 14:17 3⁄5.
| World record | Alfred Shrubb (GBR) | 14:17 3⁄5 | South London | 21 May 1903 |
| Olympic record | N/A | | | |

## Results
### 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.

#### 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 received 1+2+3=6 points. Neither Italy nor the Netherlands had three men finish the race, and thus they had no score and were unable to advance to the final.

##### Individual standings

| Rank | Name | Nation | Time | Points |
| 1 | William Coales | Great Britain | 15:05.6 | 1 |
| 1 | Joe Deakin | Great Britain | 15:05.6 | 2 |
| 1 | Archie Robertson | Great Britain | 15:05.6 | 3 |
| 1 | Harold A. Wilson | Great Britain | 15:05.6 | – |
| 5 | Pericle Pagliani | Italy | 15:22.6 | 5 |
| 6 | Massimo Cartasegna | Italy | 16:26.0 | 6 |
| 7 | Arie Vosbergen | Netherlands | 17:15.8 | 7 |
| 8 | Willem Wakker | Netherlands | 17:46.4 | 8 |
| – | Wilhelmus Braams | Netherlands | DNF | – |
| – | Dorando Pietri | Italy | DNF | – |
| – | Emilio Giovanoli | Italy | DNF | – |
| – | Norman Hallows | Great Britain | DNF | – |
| – | Emilio Lunghi | Italy | DNF | – |

##### Team standings

| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Score | Score | Notes |
| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Ind. | Team | Notes |
| 1 | Great Britain | William Coales | 1 | 6 | Q |
| 1 | Great Britain | Joe Deakin | 2 | 6 | Q |
| 1 | Great Britain | Archie Robertson | 3 | 6 | Q |
| – | Italy | Pericle Pagliani | 5 | – | |
| – | Italy | Massimo Cartasegna | 6 | – | |
| – | Italy | No third finisher | – | – | |
| – | Netherlands | Arie Vosbergen | 7 | – | |
| – | Netherlands | Willem Wakker | 8 | – | |
| – | Netherlands | No third finisher | – | – | |

#### 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.

##### Individual standings

| Rank | Name | Nation | Time | Points |
| 1 | Jean Bouin | France | 14:53.0 | 1 |
| 2 | John Eisele | United States | 14:55.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Herbert Trube | United States | 14:55.0 | 3 |
| 4 | Louis Bonniot de Fleurac | France | 14:56.0 | 4 |
| 5 | George Bonhag | United States | 14:56.4 | 5 |
| 6 | John Svanberg | Sweden | 14:57.0 | 6 |
| 7 | Georg Peterson | Sweden | 15:14.4 | 7 |
| 8 | Edward Dahl | Sweden | 15:21.0 | 8 |
| 9 | Axel Wiegandt | Sweden | 15:33.0 | – |
| 10 | Joseph Dréher | France | 15:37.2 | 10 |
| 11 | Gayle Dull | United States | 15:37.4 | – |
| 12 | Seth Landqvist | Sweden | 15:46.4 | – |
| 13 | Alexandre Fayollat | France | 15:52.2 | – |
| 14 | Paul Lizandier | France | 15:56.6 | – |
| – | Harvey Cohn | United States | DNS | – |

##### Team standings

| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Score | Score | Notes |
| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Ind. | Team | Notes |
| 1 | United States | John Eisele | 2 | 10 | Q |
| 1 | United States | Herbert Trube | 3 | 10 | Q |
| 1 | United States | George Bonhag | 5 | 10 | Q |
| 2 | France | Jean Bouin | 1 | 15 | Q |
| 2 | France | Louis Bonniot de Fleurac | 4 | 15 | Q |
| 2 | France | Joseph Dréher | 10 | 15 | Q |
| 3 | Sweden | John Svanberg | 6 | 21 | |
| 3 | Sweden | Georg Peterson | 7 | 21 | |
| 3 | Sweden | Edward Dahl | 8 | 21 | |

### Final
#### Individual standings

| Rank | Name | Nation | Time | Points |
| 1 | Joe Deakin | Great Britain | 14:39.6 | 1 |
| 2 | Arthur Robertson | Great Britain | 14:41.0 | 2 |
| 3 | William Coales | Great Britain | 14:41.6 | 3 |
| 4 | John Eisele | United States | 14:41.8 | 4 |
| 5 | Harold A. Wilson | Great Britain | 14:57.0 | – |
| 6 | George Bonhag | United States | 15:05.0 | 6 |
| 7 | Norman Hallows | Great Britain | 15:08.0 | – |
| 8 | Louis Bonniot de Fleurac | France | 15:08.4 | 8 |
| 9 | Herbert Trube | United States | 15:11.0 | 9 |
| 10 | Gayle Dull | United States | 15:27.0 | – |
| 11 | Joseph Dréher | France | 15:40.0 | 11 |
| 12 | Harvey Cohn | United States | 15:40.2 | – |
| 13 | Paul Lizandier | France | 16:03.0 | 13 |
| – | Jean Bouin | France | DNS | – |
| – | Alexandre Fayollat | France | DNS | – |

#### Team standings

| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Score | Score |
| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Ind. | Team |
| | Great Britain | Joe Deakin | 1 | 6 |
| | Great Britain | Arthur Robertson | 2 | 6 |
| | Great Britain | William Coales | 3 | 6 |
| | United States | John Eisele | 4 | 19 |
| | United States | George Bonhag | 6 | 19 |
| | United States | Herbert Trube | 9 | 19 |
| | France | Louis Bonniot de Fleurac | 8 | 32 |
| | France | Joseph Dréher | 11 | 32 |
| | France | Paul Lizandier | 13 | 32 |