Athens Classic Marathon (ACM)
A child was waving at me, 12 years old is the minimum age to attend the race, these photos are taken from near Syntagma (Constitution Square), 5km race was underway
My friend posed since she didn't want to miss the once-in-a-life-time chance to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon from which the marathon race is originated
I was looking for my husband, but I found out later that he had passed this area much earlier because his timing was better than average 5km participants, and he raised more than 1500 Euro for an orphanage
We walked to the Panasnaiko Stadium, the 5km and the 10km athletes are arriving now
A shot of the stadium, this is also where the marathon race ended at the 1896 and 2004 Olympic Games
Athletes (with disabilities) from the Special Olympics racing for 1000 meters are arriving
best-dressed athletes - judging from the time of arrival is probably 10km race
youngest participant - running with mommy
Raymond Bett of Kenya is coming in
a red-carpet welcome, the time was 2:12:11
he crossed the finish line just a bit further at 2:12:40, setting the ACM event record but missed breaking the course record of 2:10:55 set by Italian Stefano Baldini at the 2004 Olympics
He said later,
The course is very different to other marathons, with some difficult hills and lots of climbing. It is very tough but it is a great course and a different feeling to run here
another Kenyan Jonathon Kipkorir was leading all the way until the last km or so
Jonathon Kipkorir was near the finish line, he crossed it at 2:14:05 and took the silver
Edwin Kimutai came in 3rd
Edwin Kimutai, also from Kenya, finished 3rd at 2:15:21, he dressed the same as his compatriot who finished 2nd, I can only distinguish them by their bib number
sometimes you have to run faster at the end of a long race to beat the other
my best shot of a marathon athlete's muscle
3 came in at the same time, what a close race !
Luthuanian Rasa Drazdauskaite was the 1st woman marathoner to come in
She raised her hands to celebrate the coming victory, recorded as 2:31:06
Awards being given out to the men's marathon winners, I have labelled them 1st, 2nd, etc. I was too far away from the podium and didn't notice that the first two winners had already received their awards
Olga Glok of Russia came in 2nd at 2:33:51
It seemed to be a long wait for the 3rd woman to come in and finally Svitlana Stanko of Ukraine showed up and finished 3rd at 2:38:59
I salute to all the athletes who participated in this year's Athens Classic Marathon, although this marathon is not as big as the one in New York, but it is the most significant one because it is where it all started, without the original "Marathon", all the other ones could not have existed.
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