An amazing response by runners who wish to participate in the greatest running event of Greece was witnessed on Monday 4 April. Registrations for the 10km & 5km Morning Road Races closed only a few hours after opening and eight months before the Athens Marathon event to be held on 13 November 2016

Online registrations became available on Monday 4April at 12.00 noon and mainly closed 5 hours later for the 10km Road Race and 10 hours later for the 5km Morning Road Race.  Currently a limited number of entries in these two races is still available, mainly for runners travelling to Greece from abroad.

Registrations for the 5km Afternoon Road Race are still going on.

The impressive reaction of Greek runners proves the great development of the running movement in Greece as well as the credibility and high standards that SEGAS has applied in its events.

The main concern of the Hellenic Athletics Federation are safety, credibility, quality and respect towards this unique sport, cultural and historic event.

A special “Thank You!”

 

An usual “race” took place through the Athens Marathon website on Monday 4 April and the winners were those who managed to register in time for the 10km and 5km Morning Road Races. Congratulations are due to all those who hurried and registered in the 10km and 5km Morning Road Races, as individual registrations for the Greek runners were exhausted a few hours after the opening of the official registration period.

 

The Athens Marathon Organizing Committee always seeks new ways to satisfy the great interest and demand by runners to be present in this important event. However, the strict participation limits, mainly in the 10km and 5km Morning Road Races (which are set for security reasons related to the safety of the participants and in order to maintain the high quality that characterizes our events) result in many runners being left out. Starting from last year, the Organizing Committee established the 5km Afternoon Road Race, so that the opportunity for participation is given to more people and invites all those that did not have the change to register in the morning races but would not want to miss the 2016 Athens Marathon to “cease the moment” and register in the 5km Afternoon Road Race, given that registrations in that race will also close soon enough.

The Anniversary 34th Athens Marathon. The Authentic

This year’s 34th “Athens Marathon. The Authentic” is itself a quite important historic anniversary, as we are all celebrating the 120 years after the first staging of a Marathon Race; an event inspired by the triumph and journey of the ancient Athenian soldier after the Marathon Battle.

In Spring of 1896, during the 1st Modern Olympic Games, athletes from five different countries took their places at the start line found on Marathonas bridge, in order to run the course leading to the Panathinaikon Stadium. The winner of that race was the Greek athlete Spyros Louis, and his victory is marked as a significant historical moment that symbolizes  hard endeavour and strength of human will. A special note should also be made to the other Greek athlete, Charilaos Vassilakos, who came second and along with Spyros Louis became the first two Olympic Champions in the history of Marathon Race.

This race, that was actually established during the 1st Modern Olympic Games, became of the most loved events around the world with millions of fans.

This year we are also celebrating 70 years after the victory during the Boston  Marathon of the great Greek Runner Stelios Kyriakides.