Spartathlon
The Spartathlon is an ultra-marathon over a distance of 246 km, which is organized in Greece since 1983. The historic route from Athens to Sparta has to be completed in a time limit of 36 hours.
History
The father of the Spartathlon is the Greek messenger Pheidippides, who was reportedly sent 490 BC during the Persian wars of the Athenians to Sparta to ask for the Spartans for help in the upcoming battle of Marathon. Supposedly he went in the morning on the 246 km long route and arrived in the evening of the next day.
In October 1982, wanted John Foden, a commander of the British Royal Air Force and himself long-distance runner, reconstruct this historical mileage. He managed along with two comrades, from Athens to Sparta to the original route (as far as reconstructed ) to run the same 36 hours ( Scoltens: 34:30, 37:37 Foden, McCarthy: 39:0 ). That was the birth of the Spartathlon, which has since been held every year on the last Friday in September.
Record holder in the men 's Yiannis Kouros, who won in each of his four starts. He also scored the top four on the track each way past times ( 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990 ). The Karlsruhe Jens Lukas won three times (1999, 2004, 2005), the German Helga Backhaus four times (1994-1997)
Terms and Conditions
Right to participate in the Saves Athlon who has met at least one of the following four conditions within the last three years:
- Has completed a run of 100 miles at a time at 10:30;
- Has participated in the Spartathlon and at least reached the checkpoint at km 172 Nestani within 24:30 h;
- Finisher at Spartathlon race was;
- Finisher a run of more than 200 km was ( regardless of the time );
- Has reached a distance of 180 km or more in a 24 - hour run;
- Has reached a distance of 250 km or more in a 48 - hour run;
- Finisher in the run Nemea Olympia within the time limit of 28 hours was.
(Source: Saves Athlon website)
Statistics
Track records
- Men: 20:25:00, Yiannis Kouros (GRE ), 1984
- Women: 27:02:17, Elizabeth Hawker (GBR ), 2012