Spartathlon
The Spartathlon is an ultramarathon over a distance of 246 km that has been held in Greece since 1983. The historical route from Athens to Sparta has to be covered in a time limit of 36 hours.
history
The father of the Spartathlon is the Greek messenger Pheidippides , who according to the tradition of Herodotus in 490 BC. It was sent to Sparta by the Athenians during the Persian Wars to ask the Spartans for help in the upcoming Battle of Marathon . The messenger set out on the 246 km long route in the morning and arrived the evening of the next day.
In October 1982 John Foden, a commander of the British Royal Air Force and himself a long-distance runner, wanted to reconstruct this historic mileage. Together with two comrades, he managed to run from Athens to Sparta on the original route (if reconstructable) for around 36 hours (Scoltens: 34:30, Foden 37:37, McCarthy: 39: 0). That was the hour of birth of the Spartathlon, which has been held every year on the last Friday in September ever since.
The men's record winner is Yiannis Kouros , who won each of his four starts. He also achieved the four best times ever run on the track (1983, 1984, 1986, 1990). The Karlsruhe Jens Lukas won three times (1999, 2004, 2005), the German Helga Backhaus four times (1994-1997)
Conditions of participation
The conditions for participation in the Spartathlon are sufficient if you have met at least one of the following conditions within the last three years:
- finished a 100-kilometer run in less than 10:00 a.m. (men) or 10:30 a.m. (women);
- participated in the Spartathlon and reached at least the Nestani checkpoint at 172 km within 24:30 hours;
- finished the Spartathlon within 36 hours;
- Finished a run of 200 to 220 km under 29 hours (men) or 30 hours (women);
- has reached a distance of 120 km (men) or 110 km (women) in a 12-hour run;
- has reached a distance of 180 km (men) or 170 km (women) in a 24-hour race;
- has reached a distance of 280 km (men) or 260 km (women) in a 48-hour run;
- Finisher at the Nemea-Olympia run was within the time limit of 28 hours.
In addition, there are other, competition-specific qualification options.
statistics
Course records
- Men: 20:25:00, Yiannis Kouros (GRE), 1984
- Women: 24:48:18, Patrycja Bereznowska (POL), 2017
Winners list
| year | Men | time | Women | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Yiannis Kouros (GRE) | 21:53 h | Eleanor Adams (GBR) | 32:37:52 |
| 1984 | Yiannis Kouros (GRE) | 20:25 h | Mary Larsson-Hanudel (USA), Lorna Richie (USA) & Marcy Schwam (USA) |
34:15:10 |
| 1985 | Patrick Macke (GBR) | 23:18 h | Mary Larsson-Hanudel (USA) | 34:10 h |
| 1986 | Yiannis Kouros (GRE) | 21:57 h | Waltraud Reisert (GER) | 32:21 h |
| 1987 | Rune Larsson (SWE) | 24:41 h | Hilary Walker (GBR) | 31:23:30 |
| 1988 | Rune Larsson (SWE) | 24:42 h | (no woman in target) | |
| 1989 | Patrick Macke (GBR) | 24:32 h | Mary Larsson-Hanudel (USA) | 31:57:23 |
| 1990 | Yiannis Kouros (GRE) | 20:29 h | Anne-Marie Deguilhem (FRA) | 34:07:41 |
| 1991 | János Bogár (HUN) | 24:15:31 | Ursula Blasberg (GER) | 34:42:45 |
| 1992 | Rusko Kantiew (BUL) | 24:15:31 | Hilary Walker (GBR) | 29:49:49 |
| 1993 | Rune Larsson (SWE) | 26:57:12 | Sigrid Lomsky (GER) | 32:43:32 |
| 1994 | James Zarei (GBR) | 26:15 h | Helga Backhaus (GER) | 30:41 h |
| 1995 | James Zarei (GBR) | 25:59:42 | Helga Backhaus (GER) | 29:33 h |
| 1996 | Roland Vuillemenot (FRA) | 26:21 h | Helga Backhaus (GER) | 29:50 h |
| 1997 | Kostas Reppos (GRE) | 23:37 h | Helga Backhaus (GER) | 30:39 h |
| 1998 | Kostas Reppos (GRE) | 25:11:41 | Mary Larsson-Hanudel (SWE) | 28:46:58 |
| 1999 | Jens Lukas (GER) | 25:38:03 | Anny Monot (FRA) | 35:38:08 |
| 2000 | Masayuki Ōtaki (JPN) | 24:01:10 | Hiroko Okiyama (JPN) | 29:16:37 |
| 2001 | Valmir Nunes (BRA) | 23:18:05 | Alzira da Silva Portela Lário (POR) | 30:31:41 |
| 2002 | Ryōichi Sekiya (JPN) | 23:47:54 | Irina Reutovich (RUS) | 28:10:48 |
| 2003 | Markus Thalmann (AUT) | 23:28:24 | Akiko Sakamoto (JPN) | 29:07:44 |
| 2004 | Jens Lukas (GER) | 25:49:59 | Kimie Noto (JPN) | 29:57:40 |
| 2005 | Jens Lukas (GER) | 24:20:39 | Kimie Noto (JPN) | 30:23:07 |
| 2006 | Scott Jurek (USA) | 22:52:18 | Sumie Inagaki (JPN) | 28:37:20 |
| 2007 | Scott Jurek (USA) | 23:12:14 | Akiko Sakamoto (JPN) | 31:09:24 |
| 2008 | Scott Jurek (USA) | 22:20:01 | Sook-Hue Hur (KOR) | 30:03:22 |
| 2009 | Ryōichi Sekiya (JPN) | 23:48:24 | Sumie Inagaki (JPN) | 27:39:49 |
| 2010 | Ivan Cudin (ITA) | 23:03:06 | Emily Gelder (GBR) | 30:17:03 |
| 2011 | Ivan Cudin (ITA) | 22:57:34 | Szilvia Lubics (HUN) | 29:07:45 |
| 2012 | Stu Thoms (GER) | 26:28:19 | Elizabeth Hawker (GBR) | 27:02:17 |
| 2013 | Oliveira Joao (POR) | 23:29:08 | Szilvia Lubics (HUN) | 28:03:04 |
| 2014 | Ivan Cudin (ITA) | 22:29:29 | Szilvia Lubics (HUN) | 26:53:40 |
| 2015 | Florian Reus (GER) | 23:17:32 | Katalin Nagy (USA) | 25:07:12 |
| 2016 | Andrzej Radzikowski (POL) | 23:01:13 | Katalin Nagy (USA) | 25:22:26 |
| 2017 | Aleksandr Sorokin (LT) | 22:04:04 | Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) | 24:48:18 |
| 2018 | Yoshihiko Ishikawa (JPN) | 22:55:13 | Zsuzsanna Maraz (HUN) | 27:05:28 |
| 2019 | Tamás Bódis (HUN) | 23:28:37 | Zsuzsanna Maraz (HUN) | 27:16:26 |
Web links
- Official website (English version)
- Spartathlon on arrs.run
- Spartathlon on steppenhahn.de with links to many runner reports
- Spartathlon 2008 on Laufreport.de
- Runner report from the Spartathlon 2006 on teambittel.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Jürgen Schoch: DUV ultramarathon statistics. Retrieved February 22, 2017 .
- ↑ http://www.spartathlon.gr/en/registration-en.html