Spartathlon


Spartathlon is a 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.
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. 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."
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. Three runners were successful in completing the distance: John Foden in 37:37, John Scholtens in 34:30, and John McCarthy in 39:00. The following year a team of enthusiastic supporters 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, 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.
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. The runners head westwards and the first major checkpoint is at, 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.
Runners ascend the high Sangas mountain pass on Mount Parthenion, and then descend towards Tegea, which is about 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 downhill segment to the town of Sparta.
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.
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.

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:
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 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

, 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
Year1stNationalityTime2ndNationalityTime3rdNationalityTime
1983Yiannis Kouros21:53:42Dusan Mravlje24:40:38Alan Fairbrother27:39:14
1984Yiannis Kouros20:25:00Dusan Mravlje23:44:00Patrick Macke24:32:05
1985Patrick Macke23:18:00Dusan Mravlje24:39:22Jean Calbera24:42:00
1986Yiannis Kouros21:57:00Ernő Kis-Király26:07:00Peter Mann26:41:00
1987Rune Larsson24:41:46Patrick Macke26:41:51James Zarei27:27:16
1988Rune Larsson24:42:05James Zarei25:59:42Georges Makris26:47:00
1989Patrick Macke24:32:05Rune Larsson25:28:48Seiichi Morikawa26:08:18
1990Yiannis Kouros20:29:04Patrick Macke23:08:41János Bogár24:49:19
1991János Bogár24:15:31James Zarei26:48:50George Stoakes30:50:35
1992Rusko Kadiev24:08:13Paul Beckers25:05:48Roy Pirrung28:33:02
1993Rune Larsson25:57:12Jean-Claude Lapeyrigne29:48:00Schutze W.D.29:50:38
1994James Zarei26:15:00Kenji Okiyama25:55:00Peeter Kirppu26:07:00
1995James Zarei25:59:42Vasilios Chalkias27:49:46Kazuyoshi Ikeda28:12:00
1996Roland Vuillemenot26:21:00Mravlje Dusan27:55:00Roy Pirrung27:56:32
1997Constantinos Repos23:37:00Kenji Okiyama25:55:00Rune Larsson28:11:00
1998Kostas Reppos25:11:41Kenzi Okiyama26:13:13James Zarei26:44:04
1999Jens Lukas25:38:03Jean Pierre Guyomarch27:08:57Jun Onoki27:16:36
2000Masayuki Ohtaki 24:01:10Jens Lukas24:59:54Cees Verhagen25:35:50
2001Valmir Nunes23:18:05Jens Lukas24:46:51Ryōichi Sekiya25:27:30
2002Ryōichi Sekiya23:47:54Markus Thalmann25:16:56Jeffry Oonk26:58:55
2003Markus Thalmann23:28:24Valmir Nunes25:30:35Jean-Jacques Moros26:26:16
2004Jens Lukas25:49:59Markus Thalmann26:20:02Martin Juri27:19:15
2005Jens Lukas24:20:39Jean-Jacques Moros25:03:30Markus Thalmann26:34:42
2006Scott Jurek22:52:18Ryōichi Sekiya24:14:11Masayuki Ohtaki 25:19:12
2007Scott Jurek23:12:14Piotr Kurylo24:29:41Valmir Nunes25:37:40
2008Scott Jurek22:20:01Markus Thalmann24:52:09Lars Skytte Christoffersen25:29:41
2009Ryōichi Sekiya23:48:24Lars Skytte Christoffersen24:32:00Jon Harald Berge25:10:00
2010Ivan Cudin23:03:06Jan Albert Lantink23:31:00Jan Prochaska24:56:00
2011Ivan Cudin22:57:40Yuji Sakai24:22:24Michael Vanicek24:55:59
2012Stu Thoms26:28:19Tetsuo Kiso26:36:23Markus Thalmann27:14:25
2013João Oliveira23:28:31Florian Reus25:29:11Ivan Cudin25:53:44
2014Ivan Cudin22:27:57Florian Reus23:56:19Andrzej Radzikowski25:48:25
2015Florian Reus23:16:44Dan Lawson23:53:05Hansen Kim23:53:52
2016Andrzej Radzikowski23:02:23Marco Bonfiglio23:36:58Radek Brunner24:07:29
2017Aleksandr Sorokin22:04:04Radek Brunner22:49:37Nikolaos Sideridis 22:58:40
2018Yoshihiko Ishikawa22:55:13Radek Brunner23:37:25João Oliveira 24:34:30
2019Bódis Tamás26:29:24Csécei Zoltán27:16:59Radek Brunner27:26:20

Women

Time = hours:minutes:seconds

All-time top 50 performances

AthleteTimeCountryYearPlaceAge
1.Yiannis Kouros20:25:00GRE1984128
2.Yiannis Kouros20:29:04GRE1990134
3.Yiannis Kouros21:53:42GRE1983127
4.Yiannis Kouros21:57:00GRE1986130
5.Sorokin Aleksandr22:04:04LTU2017136
6.Scott Jurek22:20:01USA2008134
7.22:29:29ITA2014139
8.Radek Brunner22:49:37CZE2017242
9.Scott Jurek22:52:18USA2006132
10.22:57:40ITA2011136
11.Nikolaos Sideridis22:58:40GRE2017336
12.Andrzej Radzikowski23:02:23POL2016135
13.23:03:06ITA2010135
14.Patrick Macke23:08:41GBR1990235
15.Scott Jurek23:12:14USA2007133
16.23:17:31GER2015131
17.Patrick Macke23:18:00GBR1985130
18.Valmir Nunes23:18:05BRA2001137
19.Yoshihiko Ishikawa23:20:56JPN2017429
20.23:28:24AUT2003139
21.Joao Oliveira23:29:08POR2013136
22.Jan Lantink23:31:22HOL2010252
23.Marco Bonfiglio23:36:58ITA2016239
24.Kostas Reppos23:37:00GRE1997131
25.23:44:00YUG1985232
26.Ryōichi Sekiya23:47:54JPN2002135
27.Ryōichi Sekiya23:48:24JPN2009142
28.Dan Lawson23:53:32GBR2015242
29.Kim Hansen23:54:37DEN2015340
30.23:57:13GER2014230
31.Ohtaki Masayuki24:01:10JPN2000134
32.Radek Brunner24:07:29CZE2016342
33.Rusko Kantief24:08:13BUL1992134
34.Ryōichi Sekiya24:14:11JPN2006239
35.János Bogár24:15:31HUN1991127
36.Jens Lukas24:20:39GER2005139
37.Yuji Sakai24:21:29JPN2011149
38.24:29:41POL2007235
39.Sebastian Białobrzeski24:30:07POL2017528
40.Lars Christoffersen24:31:45DEN2009237
41.Patrick Macke24:32:05GBR1989134
42.24:39:22YUG1983230
43.24:40:38YUG1984231
44.24:41:46SWE1987131
45.Jean-Dominique Calbera24:42:00FRA1985337
46.24:42:05SWE1988132
47.Jens Lukas24:46:51GER2001235
48.Patrycja Bereznowska24:48:18POL20171F
49.János Bogár24:49:19HUN1990326
50.Sagan Lukasz24:51:00POL2017634