ATHENS MARATHON ROUTE

The world's most famous endurance race (Μαραθώνιος/Marathonios) was invented for the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896. Its 42.195 km distance corresponds in theory to that between Marathon and Athens. The route is not entirely direct, as it includes a loop around the Athenian burial mound, and the distance was fixed at the 1908 London Olympics. The event was created to bring a "historical" touch to the Games, both to commemorate the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) and to pay tribute to Phidippides, the mail carrier who died of exhaustion after running to announce victory to the people of Athens. The facts about Phidippides are mostly the stuff of legend. Several versions exist: that of a soldier from the allied city of Plataea named Eucles, that of several men taking turns, that of a runner who covered 246 km to Sparta, etc. In any case, this race was never a sporting event in antiquity. And if it was the Greek Spyridon Louis who won the first "marathon" in 1896, the race became famous thanks to its editions in New York, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and London.

A gloomy suburb and a grandiose finish. It's only since 1972 that the "classic" Athens marathon has been held on a regular basis, in mid-November to avoid the heat. And while the route is well signposted ("Athens Classic Marathon Course" sign at every kilometer), there's nothing bucolic about it. The start is from the small, poorly-maintained Marathon stadium. The route then follows the Marathonos and Mesogion avenues through gloomy suburbs: Nea Makri, Rafina, Pikermi, Agia Paraskevi, Halandri... The road is very busy, cars drive fast and sidewalks are almost non-existent. But, all the same, there's some beautiful scenery as you pass between the Penteeli and the Hymette. And those statues: General Miltiades at the Athenian burial mound at kilometer 5, Phidippides at the Rafina crossroads accompanied by the famous Nenikamen ("we have conquered") at kilometer 18, Spyridon Louis in antique nude, at Pikermi, at kilometer 21, then the superb 7-m-high glass Dromeas ("Runner") by Costas Varotsos, at the last kilometer. Finally, after the final sprint along the Avenue of King Constantine (Vasileos Konstantinou), there's the grand finish with a view of the Acropolis at the Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the 1896 Olympic Games.