Marathon

The National Archaeological Museum celebrates the Authentic Marathon in Athens on Sunday, November 11, with a thematic tour about sports and athletes in antiquity.

By means of a special educational leaflet (in English) available at the entrance of the Museum through Monday, November 12, athletes participating in the historic race will be able to stroll through the galleries of the museum and become acquainted with a series of exhibits related to training for athletes, races, prizes, etc.

Admission to the museum is free for the first 100 athletes that will ask for the educational leaflet at the Information Desk, upon presentation of their participation number for the Marathon.

Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Monday 1-8 p.m.

National Archaeological Museum, 44 Patission,
Omonia, tel 213.214.4800

Athens Marathon

The marathon course is based on the legend from which the race gained its name:  Pheidippides, a messenger in Ancient Greece, ran from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greeks’ victory over the Persians. Those who run the Athens Marathon say it is an experience they’ll never forget.

The Athens Classic (authentic) Marathon is an annual marathon road race held in Athens, Greece, normally in early November. The race attracted more than 43,000 competitors in 2017. The provenance of the competitive race is traced back to the Marathon race at the 1896 Olympics.

When you run the Athens Marathon, you run in the very footsteps of the ancient gods and heroes that gave birth to western civilization. The finish line is in Athens’ magnificent Olympic Stadium, the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games.

The Athens Marathon is recognized as the original marathon course and it was the same course used in the 2004 Olympics held in Athens.

The Athens Marathon 26.2 miles is run entirely on asphalt. The first twelve kilometers are level. The middle nineteen kilometers are gentle long hills. The final eleven kilometers are downhill. The finish line is in Athens’ magnificent Olympic Stadium.

The Athens Classic Marathon began in 1972 as a joint venture between the Greek tourist board and athletics association. The race came under the auspices of the current organizers and SEGAS in 1983 and has since become a major race, being awarded Gold Label Road Race status by the IAAF. The 1983 event was known as the Athens Peace Marathon and both a popular and elite level race featured for the first time that year.

Major Marathon Race

It is perhaps the most difficult major marathon race: the course is uphill from the 10 km mark to the 31 km mark – the toughest uphill climb of any major marathon. The course begins in the town of Marathon, where it passes the tomb of the Athenian soldiers, and it traces a path near the coast through Nea Makri.

Following the steep rise, the course goes lightly downhill towards the city of Athens. It passes a statue of a runner (Ο Δρομέας) in the city center before finishing up at the Panathinaiko Stadium; a site for athletic competitions in ancient times and the finishing point for both the 1896 and 2004 Olympic marathons.

In 1982, the organizers dedicated the race to Grigoris Lambrakis, an athlete and Member of the Greek Parliament, whose murder in the 1960s has become an inspirational cause for advocates of human rights. Since 2007 the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races has organized an annual International Marathon Symposium in Marathon town the day prior to the race.

Taking from the tradition of the Olympic Torch, the race features the Marathon Flame, which is lit at the Tomb of the Battle of Marathon and carried to the stadium in Marathon before the beginning of each race. The 2010 edition of the event was combined with the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon. As the 2500 anniversary was actually in 2011, this year was also celebrated as the anniversary run.

Greek competitors have traditionally been strong in the men’s and women’s competitions. However, East Africans and Japanese runners have increasingly become the dominant runners from 1999 onwards.

Since 1990, the Athens Classic Marathon has often served as the Greek national championships for the marathon event. The current course records are 2:10:37 hours for men, set by Felix Kandie in 2014, while Rasa Drazdauskaitė’s run of 2:31:06 in 2010 is the quickest by a woman on the course.

The official Athens Marathon app is back!

Following last years’ success, the amazing mobile application of the Athens Marathon returns! The app is here to offer the most… authentic experience to those that wish to “follow” their friends and family members participating in the event, as well as useful information to the runners themselves.

• Are you a runner? Is your friend running?
• Do you just want to keep track of the authentic action in real time (live tracking) on your mobile device?

The only thing you have to do is download and install at your smartphone, tablet, and/or personal computer, the official Athens Marathon application, “Athens Marathon. The Authentic powered by MyLaps”, available for iOS and Android.

By using the app, you will stay in touch with your runner friends and track their progress on Sunday, November 11th.

More specifically, every user can track up to 25 runners and receive automatic notifications every time the selected runners pass the timing zones at the following points: in Marathon Race, the stations include the 5 – 10 – 15 – 21,1 – 25 – 30 – 35 – 40km, at the 10km Road Race the stations include 1,1 – 5 – 5,8km where the “U-turn” is, at the 5km Road Race – Morning & Afternoon, the stations include the 1 and 3km. Moreover, each user can receive notifications for the first 15 athletes leading each one of the races.

All runners participating at the 36th Athens Marathon events, in addition to the above, can directly share their progress with their friends in social media, upload their selfies, and get informed at any time on the latest races news, but also view again their entire race thanks to Live Tracking Replay!

You can download this authentic app HERE, today, so that you receive all latest notifications and useful information on the event’s preparations, such as the bib number notifications, the opening of the Registration Center and Marathon EXPO, the key moments of the 4-day Athens Marathon event program, special offers of our sponsors, etc.

For all the users that still have the application installed on their mobile devices from last year, make sure you have updated the application to the latest version through the App Store and/or Google Play Store!!