Summary: Mile-036-Athens Classic Marathon The Athens Classic Marathon follows the route between the town of Marathon itself and Athens in Greece. In 490BC a great battle took place on the Plains of Marathon that altered world history. The Athenians defeated a much larger Persian army in a real turning point. If they had lost then there would have been no Classical Greek civilisation and western world as we know it. According to legend, a messenger called Phedippides ran the 26 miles to Athens to proclaim the victory and the Marathon run was born! Its a packed edition - I am in Marathon for the opening ceremony of the Athens Classic Marathon and the start of the celebrations of the 2500th anniversary year in 2010. We hear from the Mayor of Marathon is a special wish exclusively recorded for the listeners to this podcast. We also catch up with a few of the participants and hear the sounds of Athens and my explorations, plus of course my report from the race. The chap above is Gregoris Lambrakis, a Greek athlete and democracy campaigner who started a Peace Marathon along the same route in 1963. He was assassinated shortly afterwards but through his actions inspired modern democracy in Greece. We hear his inspirational story as we explore the terrific new running musuem at Marathon. http://www.athensclassicmarathon.gr/ site of the Athens Classic Marathon http://www.mongoliamarathon.com/ the first Mongolian International Marathon Feel free to mail me chopper@amilewith.me.uk, visit my website for all the previous editions and shownotes at http://www.amilewith.me.uk/ and follow me on Twitter @SteveChopper Posted by SteveChopper at 16:30 0 comments Download Standard Podcasts
