Spartathlon

Spartathlon is a 246-kilometre (153 mi) ultramarathon race held annually in Greece since 1983, between Athens and Sparti, the modern town on the site of ancient Sparta. As opposed to the ahistorical origin story of the marathon, the spartathlon is based on the historical run of Pheidippides, who ran from Athens to Sparta before the Battle of Marathon in a day and a half to seek aid against the Persians. Five Royal Air Force officers attempted the course in 1982 and the competition was started the next year. The winner of the first Spartathlon, Yiannis Kouros, still holds the record for fastest time at 20 hours and 25 minutes.

Monument in Sparta with names of Spartathlon winners

The finisher’s medal

The reverse side of the medal

As the race grew more popular, stringent entry criteria were implemented to ensure participants were fit enough to run the course. The race has 75 checkpoints where race officials disqualify runners who fail to meet time cutoffs or who are too tired to continue.

Origin

The Spartathlon aims to trace the footsteps of Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger sent to Sparta in 490 BC to seek help against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. Pheidippides, according to an account by Greek historian Herodotus, arrived in Sparta the day after he departed.[1] Herodotus wrote: "On the occasion of which we speak when Pheidippides was sent by the Athenian generals, and, according to his own account, saw Pan on his journey, he reached Sparta on the very next day after quitting the city of Athens."[2]

Based on this account, John Foden, an officer of the Royal Air Force and a long distance runner, went to Greece in 1982 with four officers to test whether it was possible to cover the nearly 250 kilometres in a day and a half.[2] Three runners were successful in completing the distance: John Foden in 37:37, John Scholtens in 34:30, and John McCarthy in 39:00.[3] The following year a team of enthusiastic supporters (British, Greek and other nationalities) based at the British Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Athens and led by Philhellene Michael Callaghan organised the running of the first Open International Spartathlon Race. The event was run under the auspices of SEGAS, the Hellenic Amateur Athletics Association.

Race

The Spartathlon is usually held around late September. Runners have 36 hours to run 245 kilometres (152 mi), roughly the equivalent of six consecutive marathons, between Athens and Sparti, the site of ancient Sparta. Runners have to deal with the Greek heat in the day, the cold of the night, and the mountainous terrain. There are 75 checkpoints along the way, where runners are disqualified for safety reasons if they fail to meet time cut-offs. Many runners have crews that support them during the race, such as helping them resupply at the checkpoints. Any non-finishers are picked up by a bus and taken to Sparta together.[1]

The race begins at 7:00 am, roughly when dawn breaks, at the foot of the Acropolis of Athens, near the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Agora of Athens.[1] The runners head westwards and the first major checkpoint is at 80 kilometres (50 mi), at the Corinth Canal on the Isthmus of Corinth that connects the Peloponnese to mainland Greece. Runners then proceed to the site of ancient Corinth.[1]

Runners ascend the 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) high Sangas mountain pass on Mount Parthenion, and then descend towards Tegea, which is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) from the start of the race. According to Herodotus, Pheidippides had a vision of Pan at Tegea, in what may be the first recorded case of exercise-induced hallucination. The rest of the race is a 50 kilometres (31 mi) downhill segment to the town of Sparta.[1]

The end of the race is a statue of Leonidas I, the Spartan king who died at the Battle of Thermopylae fighting the Persians ten years after Marathon, which is placed at the end of the main street in Sparta. Runners who finish the race receive a laurel wreath and water from schoolgirls dressed in chitons, and have access to medical tents. The national anthem of the winner is also played.[1]

No monetary award is given to any of the finishers, but winning the race is considered prestigious and generates publicity that is helpful in attracting sponsors. Unlike Pheidippides, none of the runners have to make the return run back to Athens.[1]

Entry requirements

In order to run in this race an individual must have recently performed at least one of a number of qualifying feats, such as:

• Finishing a race of at least 100 km (62 mi) in less than 10 hours (male) or 10 hours 30 minutes (female).
• Competing in an event of more than 200 km (120 mi) and completing it in less than 29 hours (male) or 30 hours (female).
• Competing in Spartathlon within the two previous years and overcoming the mountain to reach the Nestani checkpoint at 172 km (107 mi) in less than 24 hours 30 minutes.

The criteria have been tightened at least once in the past and a ballot introduced, since the increasing prestige of the race and the gradual increase in the number of qualifying athletes mean that it is now always oversubscribed; however, elite athletes who can exceed the criteria by a large margin (25%, formerly 20%) are able to avoid the ballot and qualify automatically. Entries are now capped at 400 each year with non-automatic qualifiers chosen through a lottery system.

Records

Yiannis Kouros, who won the first Spartathlon, still holds the record time at 20:25:00. Kouros competed in four Spartathlons, won all four and holds the four fastest times ever recorded. In 2005, he decided to trace the steps of Pheidippides completely and ran—out of competition—the Athens–Sparta–Athens distance.

Hubert Karl of Germany and András Lőw of Hungary hold the record for most finishes with 21 each. Lőw also holds the record for most consecutive finishes with 19.

In 2017, the 35th anniversary competition had a record 264 finishers under the 36-hour cut-off time. In 2018, the later stages of the race were substantially disrupted by the Medicane Zorbas, though almost all runners capable of finishing within the cut-off time were eventually able to do so.

Following are the winners of the Spartathlon:

Men

Time = hours:minutes:seconds

Year	1st	Nationality	Time	2nd	Nationality	Time	3rd	Nationality	Time
1983	Yiannis Kouros	Greece	21:53:42	Dusan Mravlje	Yugoslavia	24:40:38	Alan Fairbrother	United Kingdom	27:39:14
1984	Yiannis Kouros	Greece	20:25:00	Dusan Mravlje	Yugoslavia	23:44:00	Patrick Macke	United Kingdom	24:32:05
1985	Patrick Macke	United Kingdom	23:18:00	Dusan Mravlje	Yugoslavia	24:39:22	Jean Calbera	France	24:42:00
1986	Yiannis Kouros	Greece	21:57:00	Ernő Kis-Király	Hungary	26:07:00	Peter Mann	Germany	26:41:00
1987	Rune Larsson	Sweden	24:41:46	Patrick Macke	United Kingdom	26:41:51	James Zarei	United Kingdom	27:27:16
1988	Rune Larsson	Sweden	24:42:05	James Zarei	Iran	25:59:42	Georges Makris	Greece	26:47:00
1989	Patrick Macke	United Kingdom	24:32:05	Rune Larsson	Sweden	25:28:48	Seiichi Morikawa	Japan	26:08:18
1990	Yiannis Kouros	Greece	20:29:04	Patrick Macke	United Kingdom	23:08:41	János Bogár	Hungary	24:49:19
1991	János Bogár	Hungary	24:15:31	James Zarei	United Kingdom	26:48:50	George Stoakes	United Kingdom	30:50:35
1992[4]	Rusko Kadiev	Bulgaria	24:08:13	Paul Beckers	Belgium	25:05:48	Roy Pirrung	United States	28:33:02
1993	Rune Larsson	Sweden	25:57:12	Jean-Claude Lapeyrigne	France	29:48:00	Schutze W.D.	Germany	29:50:38
1994	James Zarei	United Kingdom	26:15:00	Kenji Okiyama	Japan	25:55:00	Peeter Kirppu	Estonia	26:07:00
1995	James Zarei	United Kingdom	25:59:42	Vasilios Chalkias	Greece	27:49:46	Kazuyoshi Ikeda	Japan	28:12:00
1996	Roland Vuillemenot	France	26:21:00	Mravlje Dusan	Slovenia	27:55:00	Roy Pirrung	United States	27:56:32
1997	Constantinos Repos	Greece	23:37:00	Kenji Okiyama	Japan	25:55:00	Rune Larsson	Sweden	28:11:00
1998	Kostas Reppos	Greece	25:11:41	Kenzi(Kenji) Okiyama	Japan	26:13:13	James Zarei	United Kingdom	26:44:04
1999	Jens Lukas	Germany	25:38:03	Jean Pierre Guyomarch	France	27:08:57	Jun Onoki	Japan	27:16:36
2000	Masayuki Ohtaki (Otaki, Ōtaki)	Japan	24:01:10	Jens Lukas	Germany	24:59:54	Cees Verhagen	Netherlands	25:35:50
2001	Valmir Nunes	Brazil	23:18:05	Jens Lukas	Germany	24:46:51	Ryōichi Sekiya	Japan	25:27:30
2002	Ryōichi Sekiya	Japan	23:47:54	Markus Thalmann	Austria	25:16:56	Jeffry Oonk	Netherlands	26:58:55
2003	Markus Thalmann	Austria	23:28:24	Valmir Nunes	Brazil	25:30:35	Jean-Jacques Moros	France	26:26:16
2004	Jens Lukas	Germany	25:49:59	Markus Thalmann	Austria	26:20:02	Martin Juri	Australia	27:19:15
2005	Jens Lukas	Germany	24:20:39	Jean-Jacques Moros	France	25:03:30	Markus Thalmann	Austria	26:34:42
2006	Scott Jurek	United States	22:52:18	Ryōichi Sekiya	Japan	24:14:11	Masayuki Ohtaki (Otaki, Ōtaki)	Japan	25:19:12
2007	Scott Jurek	United States	23:12:14	Piotr Kurylo	Poland	24:29:41	Valmir Nunes	Brazil	25:37:40
2008	Scott Jurek	United States	22:20:01	Markus Thalmann	Austria	24:52:09	Lars Skytte Christoffersen	Denmark	25:29:41
2009	Ryōichi Sekiya	Japan	23:48:24	Lars Skytte Christoffersen	Denmark	24:32:00	Jon Harald Berge	Norway	25:10:00
2010	Ivan Cudin	Italy	23:03:06	Jan Albert Lantink	Netherlands	23:31:00	Jan Prochaska	Germany	24:56:00
2011	Ivan Cudin	Italy	22:57:40	Yuji Sakai	Japan	24:22:24	Michael Vanicek	Germany	24:55:59
2012	Stu Thoms	Germany	26:28:19[5]	Tetsuo Kiso	Japan	26:36:23	Markus Thalmann	Austria	27:14:25
2013	João Oliveira	Portugal	23:28:31	Florian Reus	Germany	25:29:11	Ivan Cudin	Italy	25:53:44
2014	Ivan Cudin	Italy	22:27:57	Florian Reus	Germany	23:56:19	Andrzej Radzikowski	Poland	25:48:25
2015	Florian Reus	Germany	23:16:44	Dan Lawson	United Kingdom	23:53:05	Hansen Kim	Denmark	23:53:52
2016	Andrzej Radzikowski	Poland	23:02:23	Marco Bonfiglio	Italy	23:36:58	Radek Brunner	Czech Republic	24:07:29
2017	Aleksandr Sorokin	Lithuania	22:04:04	Radek Brunner	Czech Republic	22:49:37	Nikolaos Sideridis	Greece	22:58:40
2018	Yoshihiko Ishikawa	Japan	22:55:13	Radek Brunner	Czech Republic	23:37:25	João Oliveira	Portugal	24:34:30
2019	Bódis Tamás	Hungary	26:29:24	Csécei Zoltán	Hungary	27:16:59	Radek Brunner	Czech Republic	27:26:20

Women

[6]

Time = hours:minutes:seconds

Year	1st	Nationality	Time	2nd	Nationality	Time	3rd	Nationality	Time
2019	Zsuzsanna Maraz	Hungary	30:16:18	Irina Masanova	Russia	31:18:08	Natasa Robnik	Slovenia	32:15:31
2018	Zsuzsanna Maraz	Hungary	27:05:28	Kateřina Kašparová	Czech Republic	27:47:16	Teija Honkonen	Finland	28:36:08
2017	Patrycja Bereznowska	Poland	24:48:18	Zsuzsanna Maraz	Hungary	25:43:40	Aleksandra Niwińska	Poland	26:28:48
2016	Katalin Nagy	United States	25:22:26	Smith Pam	United States	27:11:53	Maraz Zsuzsanna	Hungary	27:44:01
2015	Katalin Nagy	United States	25:06:05	Alyson Venti	United States	26:50:51	Szilvia Lubics	Hungary	29:18:44
2014	Szilvia Lubics	Hungary	26:53:40	Katalin Nagy	United States	28:55:03	Eva Esnaola	Spain	30:52:41
2013	Szilvia Lubics	Hungary	28:03:04	Antje Krause	Germany	30:07:15	Heike Bergmann	Germany	30:22:03
2012	Elizabeth Hawker (also 3rd overall that year)[1]	United Kingdom	27:02:17[5]	Leonie van den Haak	Netherlands	28:42:36	Szilvia Lubics	Hungary	29:45:56
2011	Szilvia Lubics	Hungary	29:07:39	Ruth Podgornik Res	Slovenia	32:17:19	Mimi Anderson	United Kingdom	32:33:23
2010	Emily Gelder	United Kingdom	30:17:03	Heather Fouwdlink-Hawker	United Kingdom	32:43:00	Yoshiko Matsuda	Japan	33:31:00
2009	Sumie Inagaki	Japan	27:39:49	Yoshiko Matsuda	Japan	31:16:00	Lisa Bliss	United States	32:27:00
2008	Sook-Hue Hur	South Korea	30:03:22	Stacey Bunton	United States	31:25:59	Heinlein Marika	Germany	31:39:19
2007	Akiko Sakamoto	Japan	31:09:24	Vrigitte Bec	France	31:56:03	Kimie Noto	Japan	32:11:05
2006	Sumie Inagaki	Japan	28:37:20	Takako Furuyama	Japan	31:40:31	Mary Larsson-Hanudel	United States	31:41:56
2005	Kimie Noto	Japan	30:23:07	Elke Streicher	Germany	32:19:59	Anke Drescher	Germany	32:52:23
2004	Kimie Noto	Japan	29:57:40	Hiroko Okiyama	Japan	31:01:17	Anke Drescher	Germany	32:55:26
2003	Akiko Sakamoto	Japan	29:07:44	Sumie Inagaki	Japan	29:38:54	Barbara Szlachetka	Germany	31:50:23
2002	Irina Reutovich	Russia	28:10:48	Hiroko Okiyama	Japan	30:25:49	Mayumi Okabe	Japan	31:33:35
2001	Alzira Portela-Lario	Portugal	30:31:41	Kimie Funada(later Kimie Noto)	Japan	33:49:17	Heike Pawzik	Germany	34:41:10
2000	Hiroko Okiyama	Japan	29:16:37	Mary Larsson	United States	30:56:16	Helga Backhaus	Germany	31:35:24
1999	Anny Monot	France	35:38:08	Kimie Funada(later Kimie Noto)	Japan	35:41:31	-	-	-
1998	Mary Larsson	Sweden	28:46.58	Kimie Funada(later Kimie Noto)	Japan	29:32:21	Helga Backhaus	Germany	29:53:49
1997	Helga Backhaus	Germany	30:39:00	Kimie Funada(later Kimie Noto)	Japan	33:36:00	Heike Pawzik	Germany	33:46:00
1996	Helga Backhaus	Germany	29:33:00	Kimie Funada(later Kimie Noto)	Japan	33:36:00	Heike Pawzik	Germany	33:46:00
1995	Kimie Funada (later Kimie Noto)	Japan	29:32:21	Helga Backhaus	Germany	30:41:00	Miyako Yoshikoshi	Japan	35:40:31
1994	Helga Backhaus	Germany	30:39:00	Kazuko Kaihata	Japan	34:12:17	Miyako Yoshikoshi	Japan	34:33:21
1993	Sigrid Lomsky	Germany	32:46:17	Marie Bertrand	France	33:47:12	Miyako Yoshikoshi	Japan	34:18:00
1992	Hilary Walker	United Kingdom	31:23:30	Mary Hanudel-Larsson	United States	33:47:00	Miyako Yoshikoshi	Japan	33:47:52
1991	Ursula Blasberg	Germany	34:42:45	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Anne-Marie Deguilhem	France	34:07:41	Pascale Mahe	France	35:08:03	Mary Hanudel-Larsson	United States	35:31:30
1989	Mary Hanudel (later Mary Larsson)	United States	31:57:23	Monika Kuno	Germany	34:10:00	Eiko Endo	Japan	34:36:49
1988	-
1987	Hilary Walker	United Kingdom	31:23:30	Waltraud Reisert	Germany	35:31:56	-	-	-
1986	Mary Hanudel (later Mary Larsson)	United States	31:46:45	Waltraud Reisert	Germany	33:21:00	-	-	-
1985	Mary Hanudel (later Mary Larsson)	United States	34:10	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Mary Hanudel (later Mary Larsson)	United States	30:27:00	Marcy Schwam Lorna Richey (later Lorna Michael)	United States  United States	34:15:10	-	-	-
1983	Eleanor Robinson (formerly Adams)	United Kingdom	32:37:52	-	-	-	-	-	-

All-time top 50 performances

	Athlete	Time	Country	Year	Place	Age
1.	Yiannis Kouros	20:25:00	GRE	1984	1	28
2.	Yiannis Kouros	20:29:04	GRE	1990	1	34
3.	Yiannis Kouros	21:53:42	GRE	1983	1	27
4.	Yiannis Kouros	21:57:00	GRE	1986	1	30
5.	Sorokin Aleksandr	22:04:04	LTU	2017	1	36
6.	Scott Jurek	22:20:01	USA	2008	1	34
7.	Ivan Cudin	22:29:29	ITA	2014	1	39
8.	Radek Brunner	22:49:37	CZE	2017	2	42
9.	Scott Jurek	22:52:18	USA	2006	1	32
10.	Ivan Cudin	22:57:40	ITA	2011	1	36
11.	Nikolaos Sideridis	22:58:40	GRE	2017	3	36
12.	Andrzej Radzikowski	23:02:23	POL	2016	1	35
13.	Ivan Cudin	23:03:06	ITA	2010	1	35
14.	Patrick Macke	23:08:41	GBR	1990	2	35
15.	Scott Jurek	23:12:14	USA	2007	1	33
16.	Florian Reus	23:17:31	GER	2015	1	31
17.	Patrick Macke	23:18:00	GBR	1985	1	30
18.	Valmir Nunes	23:18:05	BRA	2001	1	37
19.	Yoshihiko Ishikawa	23:20:56	JPN	2017	4	29
20.	Markus Thalmann	23:28:24	AUT	2003	1	39
21.	Joao Oliveira	23:29:08	POR	2013	1	36
22.	Jan Lantink	23:31:22	HOL	2010	2	52
23.	Marco Bonfiglio	23:36:58	ITA	2016	2	39
24.	Kostas Reppos	23:37:00	GRE	1997	1	31
25.	Dušan Mravlje	23:44:00	YUG	1985	2	32
26.	Ryōichi Sekiya	23:47:54	JPN	2002	1	35
27.	Ryōichi Sekiya	23:48:24	JPN	2009	1	42
28.	Dan Lawson	23:53:32	GBR	2015	2	42
29.	Kim Hansen	23:54:37	DEN	2015	3	40
30.	Florian Reus	23:57:13	GER	2014	2	30
31.	Ohtaki Masayuki	24:01:10	JPN	2000	1	34
32.	Radek Brunner	24:07:29	CZE	2016	3	42
33.	Rusko Kantief	24:08:13	BUL	1992	1	34
34.	Ryōichi Sekiya	24:14:11	JPN	2006	2	39
35.	János Bogár	24:15:31	HUN	1991	1	27
36.	Jens Lukas	24:20:39	GER	2005	1	39
37.	Yuji Sakai	24:21:29	JPN	2011	1	49
38.	Piotr Kuryło	24:29:41	POL	2007	2	35
39.	Sebastian Białobrzeski	24:30:07	POL	2017	5	28
40.	Lars Christoffersen	24:31:45	DEN	2009	2	37
41.	Patrick Macke	24:32:05	GBR	1989	1	34
42.	Dušan Mravlje	24:39:22	YUG	1983	2	30
43.	Dušan Mravlje	24:40:38	YUG	1984	2	31
44.	Rune Larsson	24:41:46	SWE	1987	1	31
45.	Jean-Dominique Calbera	24:42:00	FRA	1985	3	37
46.	Rune Larsson	24:42:05	SWE	1988	1	32
47.	Jens Lukas	24:46:51	GER	2001	2	35
48.	Patrycja Bereznowska	24:48:18	POL	2017	1F
49.	János Bogár	24:49:19	HUN	1990	3	26
50.	Sagan Lukasz	24:51:00	POL	2017	6	34

[7]

References

1. "The lunacy of the long-distance runner". The Economist. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
2. Herodotus, The Persian Wars, Chapter 6, paragraph 106
3. Spartathlon 1983-2007, page 23, Published by the International Spartathlon Association, Athens, Greece
4. File:Spartatalon finishers 1992.jpg
5. "Finishers". Spartathlon. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
6. http://www.spartathlon.gr/en/results/finishers.html
7. Spartathlon 1983-2017, International Spartathlon Association, 7 Kodrou street, 10558, Athens, Greece

External links

• Official Website for Spartathlon
• John Foden's article on how the Spartathlon has changed over the years
• John Foden's article on time spent at refreshment points