May I introduce you the Spartathlon...

This article will draw a big picture of the race. I will drill further in detail in future posts.

Wrong ideas about the marathon
First of all, where is the marathon coming from? According to the famous legend, in 490 BC, a Greek messenger called Pheidippides ran from the plain of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians. The man died when arriving, exclaiming “We have won”. The real distance was 35 km. The Olympic distance is 42.195 km; it was set by the English in 1908 when the Summer Olympics games occurred in London. The distance was measured from the Windsor Castle to the Olympic Stadium, located in Shepherd’s Bush, a London district.

The true marathon story

Here is another story, pretty more exciting and more accurate. The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned Pheidippides as an Athenian messenger who was sent to Sparta for asking military support during the battle of Marathon. He arrived in Sparta on the very next day. Spartans did not come but the Athenians won without their help. Frankly, I prefer this story: Pheidippides did not die and he ran on his way back to Athens!

Spartathlon birth
Now I believe you guessed where Spartathlon came from? In 1982 John Foden -a British RAF Wing Commander and fund of Ancient Greek culture- decided to put Pheidippides accomplishment to the test. With four RAF officers, they check that running 250 km in a day an half was possible. So they did. The following year, the official race was put on the rails.

from left to right: Flight Lieutenant John Scholtens, Wing Commander John Foden and Flight Sergeant John McCarthy before the statue of Leonidas in Sparta on 10 October 1982.

The Spartathlon race
1) A journey through history
The race links up several ancient cities: Athens, Eleusis, Megara, Ancient Corinth, Ancient Nemea, Tegea and Sparta.
Nemea is known for hosting the Panhellenic Games, called “NEMEA”, held there every two years since 573 BC. Another race called the Olympian race is organized every two years, from Nemea to Olympia (180 km). I will come back on this race in a future post.

2) A journey through ultrarunning
According to Herodotus, Pheidippides did his run in September. The race starts at 7am on the last Friday of each September. The temperatures in September are usually range between 30°C to 19°C (86°F and 66°F). The runners must fill strong requirements (will be reviewed in a future post). The race length is 246 km and has to be finished in less than 36 hours. There is 75 control points (every 3/5 km) each one as a cut-off time.

Conclusion
A hard race for rude guys. By the way, I found my race motto: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartathlon
http://www.ultraned.org/n_item/f1394.php
http://www.spartathlon.gr/
Utrafondus #54, the French ultrarunners mag.
http://nemeaolympiarace.free.fr/