Olympics: The Olympic Marathon

The Athens Olympics marathon course has received a lot of controversy in recent months. It was delayed by various obstacles, including two changes in the construction contractors as well as multiple labor strikes, all of which added to stereotypes and have slowed down progress. Now, however, with less than twoo months before the Olympic Marathon is set to take place, a miracle has occurred. The Athens course will be ready, and it looks to provide a challenge to runners from around the world. While most courses are designed for fast times and world record attempts, the Olympic marathon will be a test of guts and survival. Most marathoners have never faced conditions these testing: brutally hot weather and a course that even elites haven’t been able to produce a world class time on.

Phiddipides first ran this course over 2500 years ago as he journeyed the 26.2 mile trek from the small town of Marathon to Athens. What most people don’t realize, however, is that Phiddipides had run a cumulative 280 miles (to Sparta and back) and fought a day-long battle before his historic marathon run. Upon reaching Athens, Phiddipides yelled out the word VICTORY before collapsing to his death. Ever since, people have been fascinated with the challenge of the marathon.

The Athens marathon is supposed to be the original course that Phiddipides ran, although there is truly no real way or knowing whether this is true or not. The course is fully paved, much to the relief of Athens Olympic organizers. Two months ago, you couldn’t even drive on the Marathon course. Now it’s close to completion (minus some greenery and landscaping that workers are rushing to finish).

The race, of course, begins in the town of Marathon, which today, mostly serves as a center for tourism, celebrating the starting point for Phiddipides as well as the Greek victory several centuries ago. Runners will be pleased to have the first 8 miles be relatively flat. You will pass by the historic Tomb of the Marathon Warriors at 6 miles and run through beach city Nea Makri shortly thereafter. Runners will have the ocean and many beach resorts on their left, while the hills await them in front. Rarely is there sidewalk for spectators to view marathoners zooming by, although this is a detail that construction workers are scrambling to ratify before the gun goes off in August. The course hugs most of the coast line for the next 11-12 miles, passing through cities such as Rafina (where many boats depart daily for the Greek islands) and Mati. These are long and gradual hills, where the downhills come much less frequently than the uphills. You do continue to climb, however, until you hit the 20 mile mark right after the small town of Stavros. It’s good timing, because runners by this point will be close to exhausted by the previous miles’ worth of climbing. For the last 10km, the course is a gradual downhill as you begin to enter the metropolis of Athens, the city where half of Greece resides. It’s hard to conceive if Phiddipides could have envisioned a city so dense and modern celebrating his final run. Runners will fly through the downtown streets of Athens as they near Panathinaiko Stadium. This Stadium, not only well placed in the middle of Athens, but also has a special symbolic meaning: it was the original Stadium where the first modern Olympics took place in 1896. Runners will turn into the Stadium and take one final lap around inside as they finish in front of more than 50,000 screaming fans.

Both the men’s and women’s marathon will start at 5:30 p.m., a serious point of contention for running enthusiasts, as well as athletes. Perhaps training in Austin would help some of the world’s elite prepare for the brutal Athens conditions. Temperatures are expected to exceed 100 degrees in late August. While the women’s race is strategically place in the middle of the Olympic action (August 22), the men’s race coincides with the Olympic Closing Ceremonies and is the last event slated on the Olympic schedule. Yet any real running fan will choose to watch the men finish. Something else to take into consideration is the fact that while tickets to the Closing Ceremonies exceed $1000, a ticket to cheer on Team USA’s marathoners is less than $20. As I said, expect it to be a party. Alan Culpepper leads a strong contingent of American men that include Mebrahtom Keflizighi and Dan Browne. On the women’s side, former Arkansas Razorback and U.S. Record Holder Deena Drossin is expected to seriously challenge for a medal.

If you’ve ever wanted to go to a Marathon simply to spectate, there is no more appropriate event to attend than the Olympic Marathon. The Olympics represent a celebration of sport and culture. This is, afterall, the return of the Olympics to their birthplace (after more than a century). This is the chance for the 26.2 distance to shine in front of onlooking fans from around the globe, as well as the rare opportunity for marathoners to own the spotlight all on their own.