Third Nafplio Marathon a Hit, Draws in the Crowds

More than 6,000 runners and athletes, professionals and amateurs took to the streets of the Peloponnesian town of Nafplio, last Sunday, in the largest Nafplio Marathon to date.

The historic town hosted its third marathon on March 6, jointly organized by the municipality, the Argolida Regional Division, the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) Peloponnese unit, the Marathon Runners of Argolida, and the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University.

Marathon winners this year were Konstantinos Papanastasiou clocking 2:43:18, with Giorgos Hadjiyiannis second at 2:44:44 and Dimitris Vogiatzis third with a time of 2:47:35.

In the women’s category, Evgenia Boulmeti came in first with 3:27:13, Maria Kanaki second clocking 3:37:14 and Stavroula Baka third with a time of 3:41:35.

In the half marathon, the winners were Konstantinos Gelaouzos (1:08:01), Lambros Maltezos (1:10:33) and Alexis Paspatis (1:14:42). Women runners clinching the top three spots were Denice Dimaki (1:23:29), Ioulia-Eleni Panagiotopoulou (1:30:38) and Eleni Saridaki (1:31:07).

The races, which also included parallel cultural events and happenings, ran through the city’s picturesque center and across town, below the Venetian fortress of Palamidi and opposite the Bourtzi on the islet of Agioi Theodori.

More than 250 athletes ran the Marathon route, 750-plus tried their luck in the half marathon and 1,700 in the 5km run. Parallel events included a bike ride with over 50 cyclists and a charity 2.5km race which saw more than 2,500 runners in place.

The starting pistol was fired jointly by Nafplio Mayor Dimitris Kostouros, and his Marousi counterpart and Central Union of Municipalities (KEDE) president George Patoulis. Celebrity Marathon Mayor Ilias Psinakis set the 5km and 2.5km runs into action.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) was a main media sponsor of the 3rd Nafplio Marathon 2016.

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