Athens Classic Marathon

Athens Classic Marathon
Panathinaiko Stadium is the finishing point of the race
DateEarly November
LocationAthens, Greece
Event typeRoad
DistanceMarathon
Primary sponsorOPAP
Established1972 (52 years ago) (1972)
Course recordsMen: 2:10:34 (2023)
Kenya Edwin Kiptoo
Women: 2:31:06 (2010)
Lithuania Rasa Drazdauskaitė
Official siteAthens Classic Marathon
Participants4,020 finishers (2021)
16,436 (2019)
15,279 (2018)

The Athens Classic Marathon is an annual marathon road race held in Athens, Greece, normally in early November (the second Sunday of November), since 1972. It also often serves as Greece's national marathon championships. The race attracted 43,000 competitors in 2015 of which 16,000 were for the 42.195 kilometre (26.2 mile) course, both numbers being an all-time record for the event.[1] The rest of the runners competed in the concurrent 5 and 10 kilometres road races and the racewalking contest.

The marathon race and course is inspired by the Ancient Athenian army run from Marathon to Athens after the Battle of Marathon.[2]

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[3] and carried to the stadium in Marathon before the beginning of each race.[4] In addition, an international marathon symposium is held the day before the race.[4]

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.[5] The current course records are 2:10:34 hours for men, set by Edwin Kiptoo in 2023, while Rasa Drazdauskaitė's run of 2:31:06 in 2010 is the quickest by a woman on the course.[6]

  1. ^ Over 43,000 ran in the 33rd Authentic Athens Marathon on Sunday tovima.gr Retrieved on Monday, November 09, 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Editor was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "About the Battle of Marathon".
  4. ^ a b Butcher, Pat (2008-11-06). Marathon talks, in Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.
  5. ^ Nikitaridis, Michalis (2005-11-06). Saina and Measo are victorious in the Athens Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2010ed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).