FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Athens Marathon confirms its unique status,
Christoforos Merousis wins classic event
Athens, November 8th, 2015 -- "The Athens Marathon. The Authentic" asserted
its status as a unique race despite the problems by financial crisis in
Greece. A record number of 16,000 runners went to the start line of this
classic race at the very source of the event's inspiration, the coastal
town of Marathon from where the marathon was launched in the inaugural
Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896. That marked a rise of almost 25%
from a year ago, while SEGAS, the Greek Athletics Federation, recorded a
total of 43,000 entries for this and the shorter distance events, held the
same day.
For the first time since 2000 the Athens Marathon had a Greek men's winner,
which was largely due to the fact that the organisers had not included an
elite international field for the 33rd edition of the race. Christoforos
Merousis went into the lead within the first few kilometres from the start
in the town of Marathon. Temperatures were warm, reaching over 20 degrees
Celsius as Merousis ran to victory in the old Olympic Stadium in Athens,
stopping the finish line clock at 2:21:22. The next two men across the line
were also from the host nation: Dimitros Theodorakakos finished second in
2:27:03 and Dimosthenis Evangelidis was third in 2:27:28.
The fastest woman on the classic, demanding course was the Japanese Minori
Hayakari with 2:52:06. Last year she made her marathon debut in Athens and
finished ninth in 2:53:43. Two Greek runners completed the women's podium:
Ourania Rebouli ran 2:54:32 for second and Magdalini Gazea finished third
in 2:55:35.
"We are delighted to have organised the Athens Marathon as a festival of
running with global significance, despite the crisis. When I look around at
the race and see all the people, I only see smiling faces. We shall
continue to develop the Athens Marathon as an important event for Greek
society," said Kostas Panagopoulos, president of the Greek Athletics
Federation. "Each year the Athens Marathon will continue to grow."
Makis Asimakopoulos, General Director of "The Athens Marathon. The
Authentic", believes that, in the short term, it would be possible to
increase the capacity for the marathon to 20,000 runners. "We hope that in
three years we shall have the right infrastructure to cope with that size
of field," said Makis Asimakopoulos, who wants to make the race one of the
best in the world. "We have a unique status because of history. That's why
we want to make the Athens Marathon one of the best in the world."
In the last ten years the Athens organisers have also profited from the
knowledge of foreign running event organisers. Among them is the founder of
the Berlin Marathon, Horst Milde, who has been coming to Athens since 2005.
"Today was for me a kind of rebirth of the Athens Marathon. The race is now
back with the people. There were standing ovations for the runners, the
atmosphere was fantastic. In the meantime the organisation has become so
good that other race organisers could learn from them," said Horst Milde
and added: "The Athens Marathon has the town of Marathon as its starting
point and the Panathinaikon Stadium as the finish – what more could you
ask? This race can become the marathon above all others in future."
Paco Borao, the president of the Association of International Marathons and
Distance Races (AIMS), also singled out the Athens Marathon for its special
status. Speaking in Athens, the Spaniard said: "Because of its unique
historical background, the Athens Marathon is the race which every marathon
runner has to run at least once in their lives. I'm well qualified to say
that because last year I ran the marathon here myself." Paco Borao added
that the increasing participation figures were a healthy sign. "That shows
that the organisation is done well here. We at AIMS give this race our
backing."
Further information can be found at: www.athensauthenticmarathon.gr
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