The Athens Classic Marathon is an annual marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 road race

Road running

Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...

 held in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, normally in early November. The race usually attracts around 5000 competitors every year, although the total reaches around 8000 when including the concurrent 5 and 10 kilometres road races and the racewalking contest.

The marathon course is based on the myth from which the race gained its name: Pheidippides

Pheidippides

Pheidippides , hero of Ancient Greece, is the central figure in a story which was the inspiration for a modern sporting event, the marathon.-The story:...

, a messenger in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

, ran from the Battle of Marathon

Battle of Marathon

The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. It was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate...

 to Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 to announce the Greeks' victory over the Persians

Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...

. The provenance of the competitive race is traced back to the Marathon race at the 1896 Olympics. The Athens Classic Marathon began in 1972 as a joint venture between the Greek tourist board and athletics association. The race came under the auspices of the current organisers and SEGAS in 1983 and has since become a major race, being awarded Gold Label Road Race status by the IAAF.

It is perhaps one of the most difficult major marathon races: the course is uphill from the 10 km mark to the 31 km mark – the toughest uphill climb of any major marathon. The course begins in the town of Marathon

Marathon, Greece

Marathon is a town in Greece, the site of the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians. The tumulus or burial mound for the 192 Athenian dead that was erected near the battlefield remains a feature of the coastal plain...

, where it passes the tomb of the Athenian soldiers, and it traces a path near the coast through Nea Makri

Nea Makri

Nea Makri is a town located in the northeastern part of Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Marathon, of which it is a municipal unit.- Town layout :...

. Following the steep rise, the course goes lightly downhill towards the city of Athens. It passes a statue of a runner (Ο Δρομέας) in the city centre before finishing up at the Panathinaiko Stadium

Panathinaiko Stadium

The Panathinaiko or Panathenaic Stadium , also known as the Kallimarmaro , is an athletic stadium in Athens that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896...

; a site for athletics competitions in ancient times and the finishing point for both the 1896 and 2004 Olympic marathons.

In 1982, the organisers dedicated the race to Grigoris Lambrakis, an athlete and Member of the Greek Parliament, whose murder in the 1960s has become an inspirational cause for advocates of human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

. Since 2007 the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races

Association of International Marathons and Distance Races

The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, also known as AIMS, is an association of long-distance running races. Originally founded in 1982 at a meeting in London of marathon race directors, its membership was extended in 1986 to include all road races...

 has organised an annual International Marathon Symposium in Marathon town the day prior to the race. 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 and carried to the stadium in Marathon before the beginning of each race. The 2010 edition of the event was combined with the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon.

Greek competitors have traditionally been strong in the men's and women's competitions. However, East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

ns and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese runners have increasingly become the dominant runners from 1999 onwards. Since 1990, the Athens Classic Marathon has often served as the Greek national championships for the marathon event. The current men's and women's course records are the following: For men Abdelkrim Boubker has the best time of 2:11:40, set in 2011, while Rasa Drazdauskaitė

Rasa Drazdauskaitė

Rasa Drazdauskaitė is a Lithuanian long-distance runner. She represented her country at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, finishing 37th in the marathon....

's run of 2:31:06 is the quickest by a woman on the course, set in 2010.

Past winners

Key:

Year	Men's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
2011		2:11:40		2:35:25
2010		2:12:40		2:31:06
2009		2:13:44		2:39:56
2008		2:12:42		2:36:58
2007		2:14:40		2:33:19
2006		2:17:46		2:40:45
2005		2:16:15		2:38:39
2004		2:15:28		2:41:11
2003		2:16:59		2:43:18
2002		2:18:20		2:37:29
2001		2:19:26		2:36:15
2000		2:20:50		2:53:00
1999		2:18:35		2:46:46
1998		2:18:38		2:50:52
1997		2:31:47		2:54:43
1996		2:33:15		2:56:42
1995		2:27:27		2:59:45
1994		2:27:27		3:21:32
1993		2:28:12		3:15:56
1992		2:31:15		3:05:24
1991		2:28:18		2:59:29
1990		2:26:33		2:59:15
1989		2:23:19		2:37:42
1988		2:17:33		2:50:59
1987		2:25:14		2:43:37
1986		2:27:22		3:06:58
1985		2:26:20		3:04:30
1984		2:28:53		2:58:30
1983		2:25:34		3:20:33
1982		2:27:29		3:07:41
1981		2:32:50		3:16:00
1980		2:34:32		3:17:07
1979		2:31:21		3:34:21
1978		2:27:22		4:47:00
1977		2:14:40.8		3:05:53
1976		2:33:50		3:35:45
1975		2:35:39		3:16:13
1974		2:29:31		3:55:56
1973		2:32:26	No women race
1972		2:26:26	No women race

Winners by country

Country	Men's race	Women's race	Total
	13	8	21
	9	0	9
	1	6	7
	1	5	6
	0	3	3
	1	3	4
	0	3	3
	1	2	3
	2	0	2
	1	1	2
	2	1	3
	1	1	2
	1	1	2
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1

Multiple winners

Athlete	Country	Wins	Years
Teofanis Tsimingatos		2	1974, 1975
Christos Dumas		2	1992, 1994
Nikolaos Polias		4	1993, 1995, 1998, 2000
Panagiota Petropoulou		2	1993, 1996
Sonja Oberem Sonja Oberem Sonja Oberem, née Krolik is a German athlete, who specialized in the marathon races. In her younger days she was a successful triathlete.-Achievements:-Personal bests:*Half Marathon - 1:10:13 hrs...		2	2001, 2002