Athens Authentic Marathon 2016 - Race Highlights

In 490 BC, Pheidippides, the Greek messenger, ran from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated. He ran the entire disance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "Joy, we win!" before collapsing and dying.

The first modern marathon was run on 1896 during the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens. Only 9 runners finished among 17 participated. In 1972, the first Athens Classic Marathon was organized. For its 34th anniversary, some 40,000 runners will be running the route as Pheidippides did more than 2500 years ago and cross the finish line in the Panathenaic Stadium in November 13, 2016 - which happened to be my birthday.