Spartathalon - 246K in 36 hrs Athens to Sparta

Mike Mason · Spartathalon - 246K in 36 hrs Athens to Sparta

56 minute clip - good commentary etc. Note no voice saying:

''Mind the tree.....

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?...565803071215090&q=spartathlon

Karl C

Ernie

I've put this one on my wish/dream list for 2010
Strong chance of my first DNF but who knows.

Quote....
Athens - As extreme sports go, this one is ancient. It is one of the toughest races in the world - a sport where the body is almost bound to fail and only passion can push the runner forward.

Finish, and you get some laurels and a drink of water.

The Spartathlon is a 246km race from Athens to Sparta, which organisers say retraces the footsteps of the ancient Greek messenger Pheidippides, famous for running from Marathon to Athens to bring news of a victory against the Persians.

Along the way runners face heatstroke, blood blisters, lost toenails and hallucinations from exhaustion. Their reward is a sip of water given by "Spartan virgins", in the tradition of ancient Greek history.

There's no cash prize, which some say has kept the race clean.

"There are two poisons for athleticism: doping and money," said Marios Fournaris of Greece, 10-time finisher of the race. "Both kill the spirit of athletics. It's great to have neither at the Spartathlon."

The annual Spartathlon, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month, is one of the more extreme variants of the sport known as ultramarathon, or "ultra" to insiders.

Spartathletes have just 36 hours to cover a route from the Acropolis, along the Aegean coast, through the mountains of the Peloponnese Peninsula, and down into Sparta.

The chief universal attraction of the sport is that age and physical talent may be secondary. When muscles fail, passion and inner drive matter more than raw physical power.

"You have to continuously search inside your body to find signs of problems and must then solve the problems," said Markus Thalmann, an Austrian heart surgeon and the 2003 winner.

He said the race is 30-40 percent mental strength and self motivation, 30 percent tactics and 30-40 percent about drinking and eating the right things.

Of this year's 323 starters, only 125 made it to Sparta and even in the best of years, completion rates are rarely over 40 percent. Most finishers come from Europe, Japan or South Korea, but past winners also include runners from Iran and Brazil.

Winners usually need no more than 24 hours to cover the distance but the bulk of finishers will run more than 34 hours.

They face the most gruelling challenge at 160km, climbing the 1 200-metre Mount Parthenion. After a 10km ascent, the road ends and they have to climb over a mountain pass with no path, no guard rail and gusting winds.