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 .
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
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center
! Rank || Name || Nation || Time || Points
|-
|rowspan=4 | 1 ||align=left| William Coales ||align=left| || 15:05.6 || 1
|-
|align=left| Joe Deakin ||align=left| || 15:05.6 || 2
|-
|align=left| Archie Robertson ||align=left| || 15:05.6 || 3
|-
|align=left| Harold A. Wilson ||align=left| || 15:05.6 ||
|-
| 5 ||align=left| Pericle Pagliani ||align=left| || 15:22.6 || 5
|-
| 6 ||align=left| Massimo Cartasegna ||align=left| || 16:26.0 || 6
|-
| 7 ||align=left| Arie Vosbergen ||align=left| || 17:15.8 || 7
|-
| 8 ||align=left| Willem Wakker ||align=left| || 17:46.4 || 8
|-
|rowspan=5| ||align=left| Wilhelmus Braams ||align=left| || ||
|-
|align=left| Dorando Pietri ||align=left| || ||
|-
|align=left| Emilio Giovanoli ||align=left| || ||
|-
|align=left| Norman Hallows ||align=left| || ||
|-
|align=left| Emilio Lunghi ||align=left| || ||
|}
; Team standings
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center
!rowspan=2| Rank !!rowspan=2| Nation !!rowspan=2| Athletes !!colspan=2| Score !!rowspan=2| Notes
|-
! Ind. !! Team
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|rowspan=3| 1 ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| William Coales || 1 ||rowspan=3| 6 ||rowspan=3|
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|align=left| Joe Deakin || 2
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|align=left| Archie Robertson || 3
|-
|rowspan=6| ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| Pericle Pagliani || 5 ||rowspan=3| ||rowspan=3|
|-
|align=left| Massimo Cartasegna || 6
|-
|align=left| No third finisher ||
|-
|rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| Arie Vosbergen || 7 ||rowspan=3| ||rowspan=3|
|-
|align=left| Willem Wakker || 8
|-
|align=left| 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
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center
! Rank || Name || Nation || Time || Points
|-
| 1 ||align=left| Jean Bouin ||align=left| || 14:53.0 || 1
|-
| 2 ||align=left| John Eisele ||align=left| || 14:55.0 || 2
|-
| 3 ||align=left| Herbert Trube ||align=left| || 14:55.0 || 3
|-
| 4 ||align=left| Louis Bonniot de Fleurac ||align=left| || 14:56.0 || 4
|-
| 5 ||align=left| George Bonhag ||align=left| || 14:56.4 || 5
|-
| 6 ||align=left| John Svanberg ||align=left| || 14:57.0 || 6
|-
| 7 ||align=left| Georg Peterson ||align=left| || 15:14.4 || 7
|-
| 8 ||align=left| Edward Dahl ||align=left| || 15:21.0 || 8
|-
| 9 ||align=left| Axel Wiegandt ||align=left| || 15:33.0 ||
|-
| 10 ||align=left| Joseph Dréher ||align=left| || 15:37.2 || 10
|-
| 11 ||align=left| Gayle Dull ||align=left| || 15:37.4 ||
|-
| 12 ||align=left| Seth Landqvist ||align=left| || 15:46.4 ||
|-
| 13 ||align=left| Alexandre Fayollat ||align=left| || 15:52.2 ||
|-
| 14 ||align=left| Paul Lizandier ||align=left| || 15:56.6 ||
|-
| ||align=left| Harvey Cohn ||align=left| || ||
|}
; Team standings
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center
!rowspan=2| Rank !!rowspan=2| Nation !!rowspan=2| Athletes !!colspan=2| Score !!rowspan=2| Notes
|-
! Ind. !! Team
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|rowspan=3| 1 ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| John Eisele || 2 ||rowspan=3| 10 ||rowspan=3|
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|align=left| Herbert Trube || 3
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|align=left| George Bonhag || 5
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|rowspan=3| 2 ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| Jean Bouin || 1 ||rowspan=3| 15 ||rowspan=3|
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|align=left| Louis Bonniot de Fleurac || 4
|- bgcolor=bbf3bb
|align=left| Joseph Dréher || 10
|-
|rowspan=3| 3 ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| John Svanberg || 6 ||rowspan=3| 21 ||rowspan=3|
|-
|align=left| Georg Peterson || 7
|-
|align=left| Edward Dahl || 8
|}
Final
; Individual standings
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center
! Rank || Name || Nation || Time || Points
|-
| 1 ||align=left| Joe Deakin ||align=left| || 14:39.6 || 1
|-
| 2 ||align=left| Arthur Robertson ||align=left| || 14:41.0 || 2
|-
| 3 ||align=left| William Coales ||align=left| || 14:41.6 || 3
|-
| 4 ||align=left| John Eisele ||align=left| || 14:41.8 || 4
|-
| 5 ||align=left| Harold A. Wilson ||align=left| || 14:57.0 ||
|-
| 6 ||align=left| George Bonhag ||align=left| || 15:05.0 || 6
|-
| 7 ||align=left| Norman Hallows ||align=left| || 15:08.0 ||
|-
| 8 ||align=left| Louis Bonniot de Fleurac ||align=left| || 15:08.4 || 8
|-
| 9 ||align=left| Herbert Trube ||align=left| || 15:11.0 || 9
|-
| 10 ||align=left| Gayle Dull ||align=left| || 15:27.0 ||
|-
| 11 ||align=left| Joseph Dréher ||align=left| || 15:40.0 || 11
|-
| 12 ||align=left| Harvey Cohn ||align=left| || 15:40.2 ||
|-
| 13 ||align=left| Paul Lizandier ||align=left| || 16:03.0 || 13
|-
|rowspan=2| ||align=left| Jean Bouin ||align=left| || ||
|-
|align=left| Alexandre Fayollat ||align=left| || ||
|}
; Team standings
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center
!rowspan=2| Rank !!rowspan=2| Nation !!rowspan=2| Athletes !!colspan=2| Score
|-
! Ind. !! Team
|-
|rowspan=3| ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| Joe Deakin || 1 ||rowspan=3| 6
|-
|align=left| Arthur Robertson || 2
|-
|align=left| William Coales || 3
|-
|rowspan=3| ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| John Eisele || 4 ||rowspan=3| 19
|-
|align=left| George Bonhag || 6
|-
|align=left| Herbert Trube || 9
|-
|rowspan=3| ||rowspan=3 align=left| ||align=left| Louis Bonniot de Fleurac || 8 ||rowspan=3| 32
|-
|align=left| Joseph Dréher || 11
|-
|align=left| Paul Lizandier || 13
|}