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Marathon

Record participation expected at Athens Marathon this weekend

Record participation expected at Athens Marathon this weekend

Some 60,000 runners are to take part in the world-famous sporting event

The countdown to the “Athens Marathon. The Authentic” - the  classic marathon race of the Greek capital - has started. The top sporting event in Greece and one of the most famous in the world will take place on 10 November 2019.

The Hellenic Track & Field Federation and co-organizers, Attica Region, the Municipalities of Athens and Marathon and the Hellenic Olympic Committee have already provided all the key information for the international race.

According to the organisers, the 2019 marathon has set a new record of 60,000 expected participants in all disciplines, including the marathon race proper, 5 and 10 km races, power walking and kids race. The previous peak in participation was in 2018, when over 55,000 athletes from 105 countries and regions flooded the Attica area. Now, for the first time 20,000 marathon runners from all over the world will compete at the original 42.195 km course from Marathon to Athens. This puts the Athens Marathon among the biggest running events in the world.

New elements, old history

One of the new elements of this year’s organization is that the 10 km race, which has been scheduled alongside the marathon, now will be run in the early evening on 9 November in central Athens.

This Saturday afternoon the annual Marathon Flame Ceremonies will take place at the Marathon Tomb archeological site in the town of Marathon.  

Every marathon runner who passes the finish line at the Panathenaic Stadium on Sunday will receive a medal of a new series, presenting the history of the marathon race. This year's medals will depict the ancient Battle of Marathon between the forces of Athens and its ally Plataea and the Persian invaders that outnumbered them greatly but suffered a humiliating defeat.

The classic marathon begins near the burial mound of the 192 Athenians who died in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and ends at the Panathenaic Stadium in the heart of the Greek capital, the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.

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