byLarry Eder
Our favorite global marathoner, Mr. Butcher is waxing poetically here on the Athens Marathon,
and the significance of the 2,500 year celebration of the Battle of Marathon. Read on,
kind readers!
Oh, and special thanks to observant reader Steve Vaitones for that fine post card from the country of Molvania, a land untouched by Modern dentistry. A true classic (yes, and fake)!
Painting of Phillipidees, painter unknown
The big-city marathons – London, New York,
Paris, Berlin, Boston – have had a huge impact in the last 30 years, getting
unprecendented numbers of folks out on the road, and helping push the world
record closer to that elusive two hour barrier. Boston can even boast over a
hundred years’ legacy, beginning as it did in the late 19th century.
But when the Athens Classic Marathon, an
IAAF Gold Label Road Race, takes place later this year, it will be celebrating
an anniversary that puts all others into the deep shade.
Because 2010 is the 2500th
anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, an event which arguably ‘saved’
democracy in what would become Western Europe; and ultimately provided the
impetus for the creation of the marathon race for the inaugural modern Olympic
Games in Athens 1896.
The organisers of this year’s event, from
the town of Marathon to the old marble Panathenaiko stadium in Athens, are
putting on an unprecedented show for the race on Sunday, October 31. Last
year’s record field of 7000 has been increased to 20,000+, a quota that was
filled within weeks of entry being opened at the start of the year. Elite
entries already include Kenyans Isaac Macharia and Jonathan Kipkorir, both of
whom have run just over 2.07, while famous guests so far include double Olympic
marathon gold medallist Waldemar Cierpinski, Ron Hill, who won the Euro
Marathon in Athens 1969, and Kathrine Switzer, whose gate-crashing of the
hitherto all-male Boston Marathon in 1967 helped kick-start the explosion in
women’s marathoning.
A local celebrity Maria Polyzou has already
retraced the footsteps of the legendary Phillipides, and run from Athens to
Sparta and back to Marathon (over 500 kilometres) within six days last week.
Although retired from competitive running, Polyzou was eminently suited to the
task, since she is still Greek women’s marathon record holder, and is currently
Director of the Museum of the Marathon, in the town of Marathon itself.
The Association of International Marathons
(AIMS) is holding its 18th Congress in the Greek capital in the days
preceding this year’s Athens Classic Marathon, and delegates will attend the
traditional lighting of the Marathon Flame at the tumulus, the burial ground
for those few score Hellenic soldiers who fell in the victorious Battle of
Marathon against the invading Persians in 490BCE.
ends
