Spartathlon


Spartathlon is a ultramarathon race held annually in Greece since 1983, between Athens and Sparta, the modern town on the site of ancient Sparta. The Spartathlon is based on the run of Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger who travelled 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.
Considered one of the most difficult ultramarathons because of its stringent cutoff times, hilly terrain, limited crew support opportunities and hot weather, the race has gained exceptional popularity, attracting runners from each continent. Entry spots are also highly coveted as organizers limit the field to 400, forcing most applicants into a lottery.
Spartathletes must run from Athens along the coast of the Megara Gulf, across the Isthmus of Corinth and over Mount Parthenion before descending into Sparta, passing through 75 check points.

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 of them were successful in completing the distance: Foden himself in 37 hours and 37 minutes; 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. Forty-four men and one woman from twelve countries were entered into the first Spartathlon in 1983.

Race

The Spartathlon is usually held around late September to roughly coincide with the date of the Battle of Marathon. 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:
  • Finishing a race of at least in less than 10 hours or 10 hours 30 minutes.
  • Competing in an event of more than and completing it in less than 29 hours or 30 hours.
  • Competing in Spartathlon within the two previous years and overcoming the mountain to reach the Nestani checkpoint at 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 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

of Greece holds the course record with a time of 19 hours 55 minutes and 2 seconds, set in 2023. He is the first and only runner so far to break 20 hours. Zisimopoulos and Yiannis Kouros hold the record for most wins among men, with four each while Sweden's Mary Larsson has the overall record with five wins. Camille Herron holds the women's course record with a time of 22 hours 35 minute and 31 seconds set in 2023. Herron was the first woman to run under 24 hours and placed third overall.
Hubert Karl of Germany holds the record for most finishes with 25. András Lőw of Hungary meanwhile 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

Year1stNationalityTime2ndNationalityTime3rdNationalityTime
1983Yiannis Kouros21:53:4224:40:38Alan Fairbrother27:39:14
1984Yiannis Kouros20:25:0023:44:00Patrick Macke24:32:05
1985Patrick Macke23:18:0024:39:22Jean Calbera24:42:00
1986Yiannis Kouros21:57:00Ernő Kis-Király26:07:00Peter Mann26:41:00
198724:41:46Patrick Macke26:41:51James Zarei27:27:16
198824:42:05James Zarei25:59:42Georges Makris26:47:00
1989Patrick Macke24:32:0525:28:48Seiichi Morikawa26:08:18
1990Yiannis Kouros20:29:04Patrick Macke23:08:41János Bogár24:49:19
1991János Bogár24:15:31James Zarei26:48:50George Stoakes30:50:35
199224:08:1325:05:48Roy Pirrung28:33:02
199325:57:12Marcel Foucat27:46:37Milan Furin28:51:37
1994James Zarei26:15:00Kenji Okiyama25:55:00Peeter Kirppu26:07:00
1995James Zarei25:59:42Vasilios Chalkias27:49:46Kazuyoshi Ikeda28:12:00
199626:21:0027:55:00Roy Pirrung27:56:32
1997Constantinos Reppos23:37:00Kenji Okiyama25:55:0028:11:00
1998Constantinos Reppos25:11:41Kenzi Okiyama26:13:13James Zarei26:44:04
1999Jens Lukas25:38:0327:08:57Jun 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 Sekiya23:47:5425:16:56Jeffry Oonk26:58:55
200323:28:24Valmir Nunes25:30:35Jean-Jacques Moros26:26:16
2004Jens Lukas25:49:5926:20:02Martin Juri27:19:15
2005Jens Lukas24:20:39Jean-Jacques Moros25:03:3026:34:42
2006Scott Jurek22:52:18Ryōichi Sekiya24:14:11Masayuki Ohtaki 25:19:12
2007Scott Jurek23:12:1424:29:41Valmir Nunes25:37:40
2008Scott Jurek22:20:0124:52:09Lars Skytte Christoffersen25:29:41
2009Ryōichi Sekiya23:48:24Lars Skytte Christoffersen24:32:00Jon Harald Berge25:10:00
201023:03:06Jan Albert Lantink23:31:00Jan Prochaska24:56:00
201122:57:40Yuji Sakai24:22:24Michael Vanicek24:55:59
2012Stu Thoms26:28:19Tetsuo Kiso26:36:2327:14:25
2013João Oliveira23:28:3125:29:1125:53:44
201422:27:5723:56:19Andrzej Radzikowski25:48:25
201523:16:44Dan Lawson23:53:05Hansen Kim23:53:52
2016Andrzej Radzikowski23:02:23Marco Bonfiglio23:36:5824:07:29
2017Aleksandr Sorokin22:04:0422:49:37Nikolaos Sideridis 22:58:40
2018Yoshihiko Ishikawa22:55:1323:37:25João Oliveira 24:34:30
2019Bódis Tamás23:29:24Csécsei Zoltán24:16:5924:26:20
202121:57:3623:17:49Milan Sumny23:53:19
202221:00:48Toru Somiya21:18:04Yoshihiko Ishikawa23:06:45
202319:55:09 Simen Holvik22:17:23Fernando Andres Martinez Roman23:32:59
202420:18:23Martínez Roman Fernando Andres23:28:46Robin Florian23:51:30
202521:24:35Perini Francesco22:05:27Ishikawa Yoshihiko23:54:23