Athens marathon

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  • Martin - entrance of the panathenaic stadium is a good idea, I want to see that. How about 10am - then people can move on to oher places alone or in groups as they like?

    Do you know if we can get the travel pass from the expo also? I have booked transport from the airport as I didn't fancy public transport by myself with luggage. Just me going, no spectators.

  • Panathenaic on Saturday morning sounds good. I'd also like to see the Acropolis at some point. I'll make sure I've got a copy of RW to wave around! Hehe image



    I do remember reading somewhere that there will be a welcome desk for us at the airport for travel passes etc, although I'm led to believe that they're not valid on the airport service. Could anyone confirm otherwise? Incidentally, with the buses on Sunday morning, does anyone know if we're assigned to a certain bus or is it just turn up and get on the first one?



    Hope you all have good journeys out there and look forward to catching up with you all at some point over the weekend.
  • The Manchester flight on Friday lands at 19:05 so I'll be registering on Saturday morning.  Coming across with the good lady and a couple of friends (non-runners), and not flying back until Tuesday.  Holding off the sightseeing until Monday, trying to have a relaxing day on Saturday.  Will probably walk to the stadium so Mrs F knows where she's going on Sunday, 10am may be a bit early for us though.

    Martin, we're booked into the Wilmslow Exec lounge at Manchester.  I'll catch up with you at the gate.

  • Moggie-don't know about STI rep. but I'll be in the hotel after 3pm so we may meet at some point and I think I'll leave expo for Saturday.

    It will be good to meet on Saturday morning in the stadium,I am up for it.

     

  • Well how did everyone get on?

    It was tougher than Snowdon two weeks ago for me - but that was probably because I ran Snowdon and wasn't properly recovered!

    I finished in 3:06:54 which gave me 165th out of the 6370 finishers (not sure how many didn't finish) and 9th in my age cat so I was very happy indeed. I felt dizzy from about fifteen miles which has never happened before so in the end just happy to get back to the Stadium in one piece.

    The atmosphere inside the Olympic Stadium was electric which made me quite emotional at the end.

    Great weekend and thoroughly recomend this one to anyone thinking of taking it on next year.

  • I really enjoyed it - well the finish at least! I managed 3:42, which put me in 5th place in my age cat and more importantly should secure a GFA place at one of the hard to get in marathons if I am daft enough to do another! Need to grow another toe-nail first though. Well done on your time Roger - very impressive!

    Definitely one to be recommended and the organisation was superb, was particularly impressed with the buses to the start after having witnessed how wrong this can be organised with other races!

  • Congratulations on your GFA Moggie and 5th place is not too shabby either!

    I have a couple of toe nail issues probably caused by the heat because they were fine at Snowdon.

    We estimated that they would have needed over 100 buses to take everyone to the stadium which would have been inpresive in any Country, but considering the Greeks laid back attitude about everything in general it was even more impressive.

  • Well done the pair of you for the fantastic times you posted.  This was much tougher than I had imagined.  The long drag uphill from mile 11 to 19.5 took more out of me than I thought, and the plan to 'coast' in for the last 6 miles just didn't happen. Finished in 4:01:33 which with hindsight I'm pleased with, despite passing the halfway mark in 1:54 (slightly ahead of schedule).  Agree 100% with the comment re the organisation. Our farcical journey from airport to city centre on Friday evening caused some concerns about their infrastructure, but the arrangements on Sunday were top notch.

    It's an absolute must-do race in my opinion.  The whole event was so steeped in history and finishing in that magnificent stadium was so awesome that I'm not afraid to say I had a little sob to myself after I crossed the line.

    Aside from the race the two days sightseeing in Athens was simply not enough.  The Acroplis was amazing, the Temple of Zeus was immense, and the Panathenaic Stadium tour was probably the most interesting two hours I've had in recent years.

    I have a feeling I'll do it again, but I'll make sure I increase my hill-training before the event.... 

  • The weekend was so good I had forgotten about the 2 1/2 hour bus ride crambed in like sardines because of the strikes - I found it quite funny when the girls gave us the free travel card to use for five days and then anounced that there was a strike and it would be difficult to get into Athens!

    It soulds like you will be returning next year Top Shuffler.

    I was also on target (1:30:01) at the half way point but the hill at nine miles took any extra energy completely away from me and by fifteen miles I decided to just try and enjoy the pain.

    Like you I thought I would run the last six down hill miles much faster but I had nothing extra left and just coasted in. I am not sure I could have ran it any differently either, it was just a very tough marathon.

    Roll on flat VLM!

  • What a weekend! Thoroughly enjoyed myself and Greece definitely outlived my expectations. Plans fell apart a bit on Friday with the strike as I couldn't get to register in time so had to do that on Saturday which ate into my sightseeing, but I did get chance to have a good look round the stadium which was fascinating and also the Acropolis which was amazing. So pleased I climbed up there on Saturday though, don't think my legs could have coped with that on Monday!



    The race was everything I expected and more. I knew there would be uphill, but didn't realise how hard it was going to be, more hill training is required for next time! I'm more used to the flat in Edinburgh. That really took it out of me and the last 6 miles were an exhausted crawl until rounding the corner at the presidential palace when I just went for it to get a decent finish-line photo! Yes, I really must be that vain! I'm hardly the quickest over the distance and wasn't expecting a fast time but I finished in 5:28 which is considerably slower than I know I can do, but I'm so pleased to say I've finally run from Marathon to Athens and that's reward enough. Added into that the finish in an Olympic stadium and the wonderful support of the Athenian people on the way round; it's definitely a race I will remember for a very long time. Kudos must go to the organising committee too. I was really impressed with the way everything was handled. The conveyor belt of buses on Sunday morning was some feat and all the feed stations were well equipped, even for us slower ones at the back! There are a few races in the UK that can learn a lot from Athens.

    Really enjoyed my first trip to Greece and definitely thinking about going back to run again next year image
  • Well done to all who went and ran, real jealous.

    Next year is a must for me,

  • When does registration open for 2013 - sounds a bit of a must do! That would be London, Rome, Amsterdam, Paris and Athens sorted then!!!

  • hi mark it really was an amazing experience especially with the finish in the magnificent panithanikon stadium at the end ,registration was early in the new year , wil let u know for def when i check my emails

  • Thanks Martin, please can you email me ... whitehead.mark@btopenworld.com thanks so much!!

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