Runners Costas Gelaouzos and Rania Rebouli registered new course records at the Athens Half Marathon held at the center of the capital on Sunday morning with more than 17,000 runners participating, assisted by the favorable weather.
Gelaouzos, who belongs to Panathinaikos, finished in one hour, eight minutes and 35 seconds and secured a ticket to the European Championship in Amsterdam. Rebouli, representing Leros, finished in 1:16.57.
Half Marathon winners in the men’s category were Christoforos Merousis, who came second after Gelaouzos with a time of 1:09.27 and Kostas Poulios clocking 1:09.34.
Of the women competitors following Ms Rebouli were Anastasia Karakatsani with a time of 1:17.23 and Magda Gazea with 1:18.54.
In the 3km run, Nikos Sakis finished first with a time of 8:71, Kostas Drosos came second and Panagiotis Dimopoulos third. Women runners Zoi Andrikopoulou ranked first with 10:21, Eleni Economou second and Mara Marli third.
Young sufferer of the Okamoto Syndrome
The Association of Greek Olympians and Greek Marathon record holder Maria Polyzou took part in the 5.000 meters race pushing a wheelchair with a 12-year-old girl, Marilena Geroyianni, in a bid to support this young sufferer of the Okamoto Syndrome.
The Athens Half Marathon is an event co-organized annually by the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) and the City of Athens. It was organized for the first time in 2012 (with about 3,500 runners at that time) and this year it will be held for fifth time.
All Athens Half Marathon Races start and finish in the heart of the city, at Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek Parliament, running different courses in the historic city centre and passing by the main attractions of the city.
All road races are held on secured and safe roads, with the assistance of the Hellenic Police and of thousands of volunteers who offer their valuable services through the Volunteers Program of SEGAS, in which a significant number of volunteering organization takes part, such as the Volunteers Samaritans Rescuers and Lifeguards Corp of Hellenic Red Cross, the Radio Amateur Association of Greece, RSF Hellas, the Voluntary Rescue Crisis Group, the Volunteers groups “ATHENS 2004 Continuers” and “Ethelousioi – Sport and Culture Volunteers”
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