The spirit of Pheidippides, 2,500 years on
A marathon runner nears the Athens Classic Marathon finish line at the Panathenaic Stadium yesterday. The men’s race was won by Kenya’s Raymond Bett Kimutai. Lithuania’s Rasa Drazdauskaite won the women’s competition. This year’s race attracted international interest, as it marked the 2,500th anniversary of the 490 BC run by Athenian messenger Pheidippides, who is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to announce victory over the invading Persians.
