Marathon runners pass the statue of Pheidippides during the Athens Classic Marathon yesterday which organizers said drew some 3,000 athletes. James Saina, 35, led a Kenyan clean sweep of the race ahead of compatriots Sammy Chemweno and Paul Kanda. The race traces the course taken in 490 BC by a messenger who allegedly ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory of the Athenians over an invading Persian army at the plain of Marathon before dropping dead from exhaustion.