Olympus Marathon, the unique, international trail running event took place yesterday, 25 June 2022, on Mount Olympus for the 18th time!
It was a demanding 43-kilometre race on the Mountain of the Gods, with an ascent of 3350 metres, and with a slightly different route this year, to comply with the requirements of the new Presidential Decree that has officially declared Mount Olympus to be a National Park.
The route taken by the athletes is an ancient holy trail followed by pilgrims, who travelled from Dion to the summits of Mount Olympus, in homage to Zeus.
Starting in Dion, this year’s 524 athletes followed an uphill route for 21 kilometres, to reach an altitude of 2600 metres in the Muses Plateau. They then crossed “Zonaria”, below the Throne of Zeus, and started their descent via “Zolotas” refuge, “Prionia” and Enipeas Gorge, before completing their exciting race in Litochoro town.
This year’s great winner was Spaniard Miguel Heras, of Salomon Spain, with a time of 04:54:20. Second place went to Greek elite runner Dimitris Theodorakakos of Salomon Hellas, with a time of 05:00:39, closely followed by David Prades of Trangoworld-Scarpa, also from Spain, with a time of 05:03:32.
In the women’s race, the podium was made up by Maria Malai, of The Runner’s Project, taking first place with a time of 05:52:20, followed by Dimitra Bika of Scott Running Greece with a time of 06:01:55, and Fotini Koloka of Salomon Hellas 06:29:34.
Yesterday also saw the third edition of the Olympus Ultra race, a 70-kilometre route with an ascent of 5550m. The race was very challenging but also extremely beautiful, crossing the northern side of Mount Olympus and reaching its second highest peak, Skolio, at 2911m.
There were 83 runners at the starting line. At the finish line, Italian Donatello Rota of Team Kalias came first with a time of 11:18:43; he was followed by Thodoros Koukoulidis of OSBET in second place with a time of 12:05:13, and Obaya Fernandez Santi from Spain completed the podium with a time of 12:12:16.
As for the women in this ultra-race, first place went to Dimitra Chairopoulou, with a time of 14:16:37, followed by Vasileia Panteri (2nd) and Paraskevi Prapoglou (3rd).
Runners from 25 different countries took place in this year’s event.
The sponsors of the 2022 event are:
PRODEA Investments; DIMAND Real Estate Development;Delloite; Salomon, a long-standing supporter of the race; Suunto;Runner Store; Stoiximan; ELVAL COLOUR; Ravago Hellas, Monotez; “Vikos” natural mineral water; Novo Νordisk; Squeezy Sports Nutrition and Melissa.
As in previous years, the races of the 18th Olympus Marathon event took place under the Aegis of the Ministry of Tourism.
The entire event enjoyed the unwavering support, assistance and cooperation of the Municipality of Dion-Olympus.
