The Spartathlon 153 mile Ultra Marathon! Athens to Sparta, Greece in 36 hours or less!

The Spartathlon is a race held in Greece. The race probably has more historical meaning and history than any other sporting event in the history of mankind.

Athens and Greece as a nation was the first modern society. The foundations of modern science, government, mathematics, astronomy, literature and more were all largely developed in ancient Greece.

In 490 BC Ancient Athens was under siege. Democracy and the principles of how our modern society exists today were being threatened to extinction by 'the barbarians', armies from Persia that were ruled under Totalitarian oppression.

The Generals of Athens desperately needed help from their neighboring state. They needed immediate reinforcements from the greatest warriors the world had ever known: The Spartan's.

Sparta is located in central Greece, in a dramatic valley surrounded by high mountains towering from all directions. Getting there from Athens quickly in 490BC was a monumental challenge, and hence the story of Pheidippides begins.

Pheidippides was a messenger of the Athenian army. He had mythical endurance and speed to run huge distances in very short period of time. The Generals of Athens summoned him in desperation and asked him to run to Sparta and plead for help; to deliver a message that Athens and all its modern achievements could be lost if the Spartans didn't come to their aid.

The events of Ancient Greece were very well documented. The accountability of recorded events is considered factual in most instances from famous Greek scholars. The famous Greek historian Herodotus wrote, 'Pheidippides left Athens for Sparta and arrived the next day'.

Fast forward to the early 1980's AD. A British RAF military commander named John Foden who was an ancient Greek historian and long distance runner reviewed maps and the route details to try and study if it was truly possible for Pheidippides to run from Athens to Sparta in less than 2 days. The distance was staggering; the terrain was mountainous, inhospitably hot in the Mediterranean valleys and treacherous climbing over cold and windy 4000 Ft. mountains. The distance was surely over 150 miles, and to do this in such a short period of time seemed impossible.

So in 1983 a team of highly trained long distance runners from England took on the challenge to see if it was possible to run from Athens to Sparta along the same route that Pheidippides ran it himself almost 2500 years prior; to deliver a message to King Leonidas, the King of the Spartans, that he should summon his troops 'so that Athens and Greece would not fall'.

5 starters left Athens on the morning of October 8th. RAF military commander John Foden arrived in Sparta in front of the statue of King Leonidas, he had done it having run the distance in 36 hours. Two other comrades reached the finish under 40 hours. It was possible to run from Athens to Sparta in less than 2 days!

The distance of 246km (153 miles) and route was established with a 36 hour cut off time requirement. The event was coined 'Spartathlon', a challenge, a distance and a pace that few humans could achieve.

Yet if they could, they would match the incredible feat of Pheidippides, to deliver a message to King Leonidas, to summon the great Spartan warriors, to become a Spartan! The run of Pheidippides could clearly be attributed to saving modern mankind as we know it today.

Attention American Ultra Runners!
America needs more runners at Spartathlon, learn more at http://www.SpartathlonUSA.com where we are trying to build a better team for future years.