31st Athens Classic Marathon Shines Spotlight On Greek Capital

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Thousands of runners created an amazing image of Athens on Sunday 10 November and placed the Greek capital in the international limelight.

The Athens Classic Marathon clearly showed that it is not just a sporting event but also a celebration for all ages, a meeting point for states and cultures and a destination suitable for hosting major events.

Some 26,000 runners from nearly 100 countries composed the Athens Classic Marathon 42 km, 10 km and 5km road races.

Winners

The winner of the 31st Athens Classic Marathon was Kenya’s Hillary Kipkogei Yego who completed the hilly course in 2 hours, 13 minutes, 50 seconds — 42 seconds ahead of Dickson Kimeli. David Kipkorir Rutoh was third in 2:14:43.

The first Greek athlete to cross the finish line was Christoforos Merousis (2:23:59) in the ninth place.

Nancy Rotich won the women’s race in 2:41:32, 24 seconds ahead of Ukraine’s Svitlana Stanko, who was also last year’s runner-up. Magda Gazea came in third (2:46:04). Gazea was the first Greek female to cross the finish line.

Press here for 2013 results.

Athens Classic Marathon: Following the steps of Pheidippides

The Athens Classic Marathon is a unique running-event of great historical importance as it carries on the tradition since the first Olympics in 1896: the runners follow the classic marathon route retracing the steps of Pheidippides himself.

According to legend, in 490 BC, a messenger named Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to announce Athens’ victory over a Persian army, then collapsed and died.

Out of that legend, the marathon race was born.

31st Athens Classic Marathon – Moments

Photos were taken near Herodes Atticus, some 200 meters before the finish line.

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