10/11/2018
The Authentic Athens Classic Marathon is tomorrow! Here are some fun "facts" about the legendary sports event.
1. It's roughly the route that a soldier ran to break the news of Greek victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in BC 490. He died right after he said "nike!" (victory). Hence the 'authentic' in the marathon's official title.
2. Today, all marathons worldwide are the same distance-40K-roughly what Pheidippides ran 2500 years ago.
3. The standing record is 2 hours, 10 minutes, 36 seconds and was set in 2014 by Felix Kandie from Kenya, who almost didn't participate in the race due to a headache and late arrival.
4. 55,000 amateur and professional athletes will be running in this year's 6 races, the largest number of participants in the Marathon's history.
5. Spyros Louis was the winner of the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, hitting the finish line in just under 3 hours.
