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Olympus Marathon, the unique, international trail running event took place on the 25th of June. It is a demanding 43-kilometer race on the Mountain of the Gods, featuring 3350 meters of vertical ascent. The route taken by the athletes is an ancient holy trail followed by pilgrims, who travelled from Dion to the summits of Mount Olympus, in homage to Zeus.
Starting in Dion, this year's 524 athletes followed an uphill route for 21 kilometers, to reach an altitude of 2600 meters in the Muses Plateau. They then crossed "Zonaria", below the Throne of Zeus, and started their descent via "Zolotas" refuge, "Prionia" and "Enipeas Gorge", before completing their exciting race in Litochoro town.
The winners of Olympus Marathon (Men's Race):
1. Miguel Angel Heras Hernández (Spain) Salomon Spain 04:54:20
2. Dimitris Theodorakakos (Greece) Salomon Hellas 05:00:39
3. David Prades (Spain) Trangoworld-Scarpa 05:03:32
The winners of Olympus Marathon (Women's Race):
1. Maria Malai (Greece) The Runner's Project 05:52:20
2. Dimitra Bika (Greece) Scott Running Greece 06:01:55
3. Foteini Koloka (Greece) Salomon Hellas 06:29:34
The third edition of the Olympus Ultra race, a 70-kilometer route with an ascent of 5550 meters was also completed successfully. The race is very challenging but also extremely beautiful, crossing the northern side of Mount Olympus and reaching its second highest peak, Skolio, at 2911 meters. 83 runners stood at the starting line.
The winners of Olympus Ultra (Men's Race):
1. Donatello Rota (Italy) Team Kalias 11:18:43
2. Theodoros Koukoulidis (Greece) OSBET 12:05:13
3. Santi Obaya Fernandez (Spain) with a time of 12:12:16
The winners of Olympus Ultra (Women's Race):
1. Dimitra Chairopoulou (Greece) 14:16:37
2. Vasileia Panteri (Greece) 17:46:44
3. Paraskevi Prapoglou (Greece) 18:50:02
In the Olympus Vertical VK race, 4.25 kilometers with an ascent of 1000m, up the famous and beautiful Gomarostali trail, the winner was Salomon Hellas's Giorgos Dialektos, with a time of 00:44:04, followed by Manolis Xintarakos of HOKA KROMMIDAS TRAIL TEAM, with a time of 00:50:07, followed by Georgios Tsompikos of Trangoworld-Scarpa in third place, with a time of 00:50:56.
In the women's category, the race was led by Christina Giazitzidou of Salomon Hellas, with a time of 00:54:31; Foteini Meintani came second with a time of 00:55:09, followed by Natasa Spanou in third place, with a time of 00:57:42.
A total of 403 runners took part in "Kopsi ton Aeton/ Eagles Edge", a 12.5 - kilometer race with an ascent of +450 meters, which has become very popular in recent years. The winner was Italian Leonardo Bonelli, with a time of 01:09:38, followed by Georgios Natsiopoulos of Kasimis Training, with a time of 01:12:31, and Apostolos Katsavrias of Kourkourikis Training Group, with a time of 01:12:41. The first three female runners in this race were: Natasa Spanou, with a time of 01:24:29, Anastasia Papa (Vmaxatraining), with a time of 01:31:01, and Konstantina Charalampidou (Interval team), with a time of 01:31:34.
In the Melindra Trail race, the event's smaller race (5 kilometers with an ascent of +180m), the winners were: Michail Adamopoulos, with a time of 00:25:24, followed by Georgios Vlachakis (00:27:06) and Evaggelos Svarnas (00:27:54). In the women's race, first place went to Melpomeni Hasioti (00:32:19), second place to Nikoleta Karampinesi (00:35:01) and third place to Matthildi Rodriguez (00:36:00).
Runners from 25 countries participated in this year's races.
We would like to thank the event sponsors:
PRODEA Investments, DIMAND Real Estate Development,
Deloitte, Salomon, Suunto, Runner Store, Stoiximan, ELVAL COLOUR, Ravago Hellas, Monotez, Vikos, Novo Νordisk, Squeezy Sports Nutrition, Melissa.
Many thanks also to our supporters:
ROUTE Maps, Proto Protofanousi Fruits S.A, Olympus Wines, ERA Energy, Apo Kardias Bardaki, Artos Efessou, Gastrodromio En Olympo, Sunday's pizza kouzina bar; Meze Meze, To Tzaki, Coffee Mountain, Ostracon.
As in previous years, the races of the 18th Olympus Marathon event took place under the Aegis of the Ministry of Tourism. The entire event had the support and assistance of the Regional Unit of Pieria and the Municipality of Dion-Olympus. The Volunteer Samaritans, Rescuers and Lifeguard Corps of Hellenic Red Cross were once again present on the trails of Mount Olympus, to provide first aid to the runners. And a warm 'thank you' to all of our race volunteers, who worked tirelessly to design, implement and complete this difficult but rewarding and exciting journey.
Text Credits: Olympus Marathon
Photo Credits: Go Experience
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