Athens Half Marathon 2018 Breaks Last Year’s Record, Authentic Marathon Wins Gold

Photo Source: Athens Half Marathon

Some 21,000 sport lovers braved the rain and ran in this year’s Athens Half Marathon 2018 held on March 18, in the Greek capital.

Athens Half Marathon 2018 winner (mens category): Kostas Gkelaouzos (center). Photo source: Athens Half Marathon

In its seventh year, the half marathon this year achieved a great leap in the entries, with the number rising from 19,100 in 2017, including almost 500 runners visiting from 55 different countries, according to organizers SEGAS (Hellenic Athletics Federation), the Athens Municipality and the Attica Region.

Participation this year peaked with 6,300 (up from 5,800 in 2017) running in the half marathon event, 10,700 in the 5km road race (compared to 9,800 in 2017), and 3,150 (up from 2,800 in 2017) in the 3km run.

Athens Half Marathon 2018 winner (womans category): Eleftheria Petroulaki. Photo source: Athens Half Marathon

Runners Kostas Gkelaouzos with a time of 1:08:30 and Eleftheria Petroulaki clocking 1:20:01 were the winners of the 7th Athens Half Marathon. In the men’s category, George Tassis came in second clocking a time of 1:09:23 and Christoforos Merousis third with 1:09:49. Last year’s winner, Ourania (Rania) Rebouli, came in second with a time of 1:20:26 and Deniz Dimaki third with 1:23.56.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) was a media sponsor of the 7th Athens Half Marathon.

“Athens Marathon. The Authentic” Wins Gold

In relevant news, meanwhile, SEGAS’ “Athens Marathon. The Authentic” event clinched the Gold Award during this year’s Tourism Awards, which recognize excellence in projects, businesses and initiatives that promote Greek tourism.

The Athens Marathon was awarded as the country’s “Major Tourism Event” for its contribution to the local economy, boosting state coffers by more than 30 million euros annually while promoting Greece internationally as a major tourist destination and Athens as a leading sporting location.

“This distinction showcases the huge legacy of the Authentic Marathon, not only within the sport community, but to the Greek community and economy as a whole,” SEGAS said in an announcement.

The 2018 Athens Marathon will be held on Sunday, November 11. SEGAS expects more than 53,000 runners of all ages to participate in all of the event’s races, “creating a huge festivity from Marathon city to the Panathenaic Stadium, making Athens again the sport capital of the World”.

The Tourism Awards event is held annually by Boussias Communications.