Athens September 26th 2011

“Stavros Niarchos Foundation” is the exclusive sponsor of the organization “Spartathlon 2011.
350 men and women will participate in this year’s race.

THE INTERNATIONAL SPARTATHLON ASSOCIATION is organizing once again this year the international ultra-distance race “Spartathlon 2011”.

This year’s 29th Spartathlon organization will be held on September 30th and October 1st 2011 under the exclusive donation of “Stavros Niarchos Foundation”, which will last for three years. The route Athens- Sparta, a distance of 246 klm, will be covered by the participants within a 36 hours timeframe. 380 athletes from 39 countries have already submitted their applications. Eventually 350 athletes were chosen to participate.

The approval of the participation is done under strict and specific race criteria (times in similar international races), so that the race maintains its high standard. Many of the best ultra-distance athletes will take part in this arduous historic race. Many of them are stars of the ultra-marathon races’ world scene. The participants are athletes from Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Greece. Japanese have the largest group (63 athletes), which is followed by Germans (44 athletes) and Greeks (43 athletes). Among the athletes that will participate in this year’s “SPARTATHLON” are winners of former organizations, as Markus Thalmann (Austria), last year’s champion Ivan Cudin (Italy), last year’s second champion Lantink Jan-Albert (the Netherlands). This will be the first participation of the American Christian Burke (2010 Guiness World Record. He ran 83,04 miles on sand in 24 hours) The participation of Kimi Noto stands out, in terms of women, as she is the woman who has completed the race the most times and has finished first twice in the past).

The participation in this race is considered the highest honour, for those that will be chosen to take part, as well as the fulfilment of a life purpose and a great ideal. The prize, besides international recognition, is nothing more than a simple olive wreath and a goblet of water from the Evrotas River. Foreign reporters will be covering the historic race step by step and will impart results worldwide. The channel FILM NET – NOVA will record the race and present two-hour shows dedicated to “SPARTATHLON” after the completion of the race. The presence of channels from countries with wide participation, such as Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Korea, Finland etc. is an indication of great interest.

This year, thanks to the “STAVROS NIARCHOS Foundation” financial support, which after a small break is once again the exclusive sponsor of “Spartathlon International Association”, the athletes will be electronically recorded at ten central stations and the results will be displayed on a monitor at the finish line area and will be uploaded at the associations website www.spartathlon.gr, which is currently radically upgraded. The International Sparthathon Association was founded in 1984 and is continuously since then organizing the race every September, as this is the timeframe in which Herodotus places Pheidippides’ mission to Sparta.

The preparation for the race, for nearly a year, simulates to that of a military corps. Specifically, there is a large number of people involved, vehicles of every kind and capacity are being used, supplies for every one of the 75 supply stations along the route, continuous monitoring of the athletes for their safety and for the immediate response to every need and prompt handling of every situation that may occur and the presence of medical emergency units. All the people involved are volunteers, members and friends, that sleepless for 36 hours every September submit their most beautiful feeling to the race.

A large group of volunteer doctors and physiotherapists are placed in key spots, ready to offer their immediate help to the athletes. Municipalities, regional hospitals and traffic police along the route are fully alert. The effort for the organization and realization of a race such as Spartathlon is hard and the responsibilities towards the athletes massive. The International Spartathlon Association is a non-profit organization. It organizes the race with its members and with the assistance of volunteers, that take over responsibilities such as timekeeping and unselfishly provide any kind of assistance or supplies needed by the athletes during the 36 hours of the race. Part of the costs is covered by the athletes’ entry fees and the rest by the exclusive sponsor “STAVROS NIARCHOS Foundation” – for a period of three years- and part of the supplies by individual supporters.

The International Spartathlon Association has members in many countries, such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, America, Canada, Japan, Greece etc. The difficulty of the route and the conditions of the race has brought Spartathlon among the two most difficult ultra-distance races. As has been repeatedly confirmed in the past, the runners that participate, their escorts and journalists return to their countries with the best impressions and become the best advertisers of our homeland, especially during a period, that it is an absolute necessity to receive good words and positive reports. “Stavros Niarchos Foundation”, the exclusive sponsor of “SPARTATHLON 2011” “Stavros Niarchos Foundation” is the exclusive sponsor of the annual ultra-marathon “Spartathlon”, for the years 2011-2013 and has supported the race with a series of donations since 2004.

The chairman of the board of directors of the “Stavros Niarchos Foundation” Mr. Andreas Drackopoulos said about the support to “Spartathlon”: “Recognizing the major importance of the revival of the historic ultra-marathon “Spartathlon”, its significant contribution to the promotion of Greek history and the ideal of fair play worldwide, as well as its unique symbolism of the power of human will, “Stavros Niarchos Foundation” supports this unique organization for the 7th year. The fact that the actions of “Stavros Niarchos Foundation” as well as the initiative of the “International Spartathlon Association” to organize this ultra-marathon, share the same basis of values, aiming to the worldwide spread of Greek spirit, explains the reasons why “Stavros Niarchos Foundation” stands by and assists once more this year the organizers of this important international race, as exclusive sponsor” The organization’s records Yiannis Kouros who won the first Spartathlon in 1983 holds the men record with 20 hours and 25 min. (1984). Kouros participated in four organizations (1983, 1984, 1986, 1990) and was declared winner of all four times. It is worth mentioning that his performances are four best that have ever been noted in SPARTATHLON. The American Scott Jureck is the only athlete that has ever won the race three consecutive times (2006, 2007, 2008).

He is also the athlete with the second best performance, after Kouros, with 2 hours and 20 min. and holds the fifth best performance of the organization. The german Jens Lucas (1999, 2004, 2005) and the swede Rune Larsson(1987, 1988, 1993) also count three wins, but not consecutive.
The athletes Costas Reppos (Greece 1997, 1998), James Zarey (United Kingdom), Patrick MacKey (United Kingdom), Rioshi Sekiya (Japan) count two wins. Nine female athletes have run the race with a performance under 30 hours. Sumi Inagaki from Japan holds the record with 27:39:49 since 2009. The record of consecutive wins is held by Helga Backhaus (Germany) with four wins (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997), which is something, that no other female athlete has achieved before. Mary Hanudel-Larsson also counts four wins, but not consecutive. Three as an American under the name Hanudel (1984, 1985, 1989 ) and one as swede under the name Larsson (1998).Akiko Sakamoto, Kimi Noto, Sumi Inagaki from Japan and Hillary Walker from the United Kingdom count two wins. In 2008 there was a record number of athletes (151), that crossed the finish line under the limit of 36 hours.

Thank you!

The press office of the organization.