Abdelkerim Boubker wins the Athens Classic Marathon

The bad weather and the rainy setting did not cause problems for the thousands of Greek and foreign runners of the 29th Classic Marathon of Athens, which concluded in the afternoon of Sunday, November 13 in Athens.

Abdelkerim Boubker from Morroco was the big winner of the Marathon and touched the finish line in 2 hrs, 11mins and 40 secs. Second came the Kenyan athlete Sami Tsuba and third his compatriot Daniel Diritu.

The first Greek athlete who finished in the race was Demetris Theodorakakos, who won 7th place and had a good time but did not break Spyros Andriopoulos' Pan-Hellenic record. The 8th place belongs to Yiorgos Karavissas with 2hrs 26 mins and 5 secs and the 9th place to Demos Evangelidis with 2 hrs 26 mins and 9 secs.

“I am very glad. I did not know how I was physically, as this is an Olympics year and we began running about a month ago on flat surfaces only”, said Theodorakakos.

In women, the first to finish was Elfense Melaku from Ethiopia with 2 hrs 35 mins and 25 secs, the second was Kamila Kanipova from Russia with 2hrs 35 mins and 31 secs and Tunisian Amira Ben Amor came third with 2hrs 42mins and 15secs. The first Greek female athlete to cross the finish line was Sofia Riga, who came fifth with 2hrs 45mins and 43secs, Denise Demaki finished second - among the Greeks - with 2hrs 54mins and 21secs and Demetra Iordanidou was third with 2hrs 55mins and 55 secs.

The 5km Marathon kicked off in front of the Panathenaic Stadium on V. Konsantinou Avenue and the athletes ran past the historical sites, museums and monuments of Athens.

The first three winners of this race are: Constantinos Drossos, Anestis Papoulis and Alexis Georgalas.

In the open road race of 10km Jebel Kassahun came first.

Overall, around 19,000 participated in all races on Sunday under the auspices of SEGAS and UNESCO. The Classic Marathon of Athens is dedicated to the great Greek fighter for peace, Gregoris Lamprakis.

The 42,195 distance of the classic race is considered one of the most difficult worldwide, but at the same time it is a great honour for all athletes participating in it as it covers the distance Miltiadis had to cover to inform the Athenians of their victory over the Persians.

Many were the stars of Greek origin who participated in the race such as Maria Menounos, Nikos Aliagas and Georges Corraface, while the UNESCO effort is supported around the world by models such as Cindy Crawford and Giselle.