Records broken at the 3rd Olympus Marathon

Reviving the tradition of the ancient faithful who used to climb the mountain of the gods at the beginning of every summer, the Olympus Marathon remakes every June history, by taking to the difficult but beautiful paths of Olympus the faithful of this sport. The runners depart from the sacred site of Dion and reach the highest peaks of the mountain, where the winter snow still covers the slopes of Greece’s highest mountain. They reach their destination at Litohoro after descending the whole height. The incredibly difficult, 44km long itinerary is a unique travel in time and through amazingly beautiful scenery. This year too, the crop of runners was exceptional. Last year’s champion, Nikos Kalofyris, as well as the extraordinary compatriot Alexis Gounko, came to compete with a famous athlete who traveled from Switzerland to experience this race, Christophe Jaquerod, one of the biggest names in the world in mountain running. Present also was the female champion of endurance races, Irena Maliborska and many others from Greece and abroad.

The unusually cold weather of this spring made the work of the organizers more difficult. In addition to normal preparation, they had to open a safe path at the highest level, in the thick layer of snow which still covered the abrupt slope, to ensure that the runners could pass in full safety. On the day of the race, tens of volunteers, climbers from the region but also members of the Red Cross, stood guard at the difficult and key points of the itinerary to offer their services to the runners. In addition, twelve refreshment stations offered food to strengthen their superhuman effort. Of particular importance was also the signaling of the itinerary which was done several days before in order to help the orientation of the runners and inform them of their precise location at any time. Departure was given a little after 6 a.m. on Sunday 25 June, at exactly sunrise, at the ancient site of Dion. The runners formed a small river when they poured on the road leading to Olympus slopes, four kilometers further in. From the very beginning, the main champions were ahead, and at the 6th kilometer, at Orlia stream, where the runners entered the heart of the mountain, the distance between those and the rest started to grow. Kalofyris broke away from Gounko and Jaquerod, and few runners formed a group behind them. A cloudy weather protected the runners from the sun. However, a high humidity quickly exhausted many of them. While the race continued and the runners were reaching higher altitudes, the cloud coiled around the summit and left them in the imposing silence which turns alive the stories of the ancient tradition. A unique ascent for Greece, starting at the level of the sea and reaching 2700 meters in persisting snow, brought the runners to the limit of their strength. At the Mouses plateau, about halfway the race, Kalofyris was almost ten minutes ahead of Jaquerod, passing CP-7, at the 21ο kilometer, in barely 2 hours and 41 minutes! Behind, Jaquerod seemed not able to follow the unbelievable rhythm, yet, five full minutes in front of Gounko, himself in 3rd position. In the descent till the rest area Prionia, at the 31st kilometer, the situation became more balanced. At an amazing rhythm, the Swiss champion cut down to barely three minutes his gap from the Greek champion, firing up the interest of the public who had gathered at the finish line in Litohoro town and were hearing the minute-by-minute information.

The last section of the race, in the Enipeas gorge, did not change the sequence, Kalofyris increasing again his lead and arriving triumphantly at arrival, breaking his own previous record with an amazing 4 hours, 56 minutes, and 23 seconds. Kalofyris became the first runner to break the 5-hour time in the Olympus Marathon. Hundreds of people cheered the winner who looked vigorous in spite of the exhausting effort. The sequence did not change and second came Jaquerod who finished at 5.01.18. This is noteworthy for the Swiss champion was running this race for the first time, yet broke any previous record and came solid second. Third came Gounko at 5.10.26. For the women, the winner was the invincible Maliborska who finished 11th overall, breaking also her own previous record at 6.29.18. Second at 7.48.41 was Sylvie Pinon-Mouillard, Jaquerod’s coach, who also ran this race for the first time and 3rd finished Anneli Sodergards from Sweden in 8.04.53. We must also note the performance of 50-year old Dimitris Venetikidis who finished 4th overall at 5.43.21smashing the M50 category record, and the performance of 72-year old George Akrivou at 9.50.41, the oldest runner of this race. In total, 255 runners managed to finish in the 12 hours limit. The non-profit association “Olympus Marathon”, is the organizer of the race, which also prepared complementary activities such as a Children Race and live music, attracting a large crowd to the region for the whole week-end. Over 150 volunteers toiled to make the race a success, which reached way beyond Greece’s borders, and made it one of the most important races for mountain running. Moral and material help gave the local authorities, such as the Municipalities of Litohoro and Dion and the Provincial Authority of Pieria. The 4th Olympus Marathon will take place on 24 June 2007.