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At the age of 42 Kenyan John Komen came from behind to upset the favorites and win the Athens Marathon with 2:16:34. The master runner was well behind the leaders with 10k to go, but on the demanding original marathon course from Marathon to Athens Komen managed to pass fellow-Kenyan Daniel Muteti and then Felicien Muhitira of Rwanda in the closing stages before the finish in the Panathenaic Stadium. Muhitira was second in 2:16:43 while Muteti dropped back to fifth with 2:21:39. Konstantinos Gkelaouzos snatched third place in 2:19:02 with fellow-Greek Efthymios Kalaras finishing fourth in 2:19:18. "I was not sure I could win this race," said John Komen.

Greece’s Eleftheria Petroulaki produced a home win in the historic race. She took the lead early and finished with 2:45:50 in mixed weather conditions with some heavy rain showers and warm temperatures.

Italy’s Olympic Marathon Champion from Athens 2004 Stefano Baldini returned to the race and clocked a fine 2:57:07. The 48 year-old finished in 99th position in the overall rankings.

A record number of 20,000 runners entered the 37th edition of the ‘Athens Marathon. The Authentic’. Adding other running events staged on Saturday and Sunday the total number for the event was an impressive figure of 60,000 athletes.