Mount Olympus – home to the Sky Classic

Dimitry Theodorakakos, three-time winner of the Olympus Marathon, 4th leg of the Sky Classic. ©Babis Giritziotis
Dimitrios Theodorakakos, three-time winner of the Olympus Marathon, 4th leg of the Sky Classic. ©Babis Giritziotis

Running with the Gods is not for everyone, but 1,300 competitors will do just that on the fourth leg of the 2017 Migu Run Skyrunner® World Series in the Sky Classic category on Saturday, June 24 in Greece.

The Olympus Marathon will host runners from 21 countries over the 44 km course which starts in the archaeological site of Dion just above sea-level. The race climbs to an altitude of 2,780m circumnavigating the summit of Mount Olympus before descending via another route to the finish. The 3,200m vertical climb amounts to a steep 7.3% average incline.

Aritz Egea, current Sky Classic ranking leader. ©iancorless.com / SWS
Aritz Egea, current Sky Classic ranking leader. ©iancorless.com / SWS

There’s no stopping ranking leader Spaniard Aritz Egea, just one week after a second place in Livigno, Italy, third leg of the Sky Classica category. He will be looking for points to defend his position. Strong competition will come from three-time race winners, Dimitrios Theodorakakos racing on home ground and Spaniard Jessed Hernandez who set the 4h33’37” record in 2008. The men will be pushed by Bulgarian Kiril Nikolov and Spaniards Manuel Merillas and Hassan Ait Chaou, runner-up in the category last year.

Traversing the snow fields on the upper reaches of the Olympus Marathon. ©Babis Giritziotis
Traversing the snow fields on the upper reaches of the Olympus Marathon. ©Babis Giritziotis

The women’s field is headed by Spaniards Azara Garcia and Aitziber Ibarbia (who placed 7th in Livigno last week) together with Ragna Debats from the Netherlands, ranked 6th. Aiming for the *Overall Champion title is American Hillary Allen who currently leads the Ultra ranking.

She comments, “Mount Olympus is like no place I’ve been before. I’ve been training here for a few weeks and it’s just incredible. I start from the sea in an almost tropical environment then rise above it all to a technical mountain landscape with snow! I really do feel like I’m running with the Ancient Greek gods and can’t wait for Saturday’s race!”

Hillar Allen, Ultra ranking leader, heading for the Olympus Marathon. ©iancorless.com /SWS
Hillar Allen, Ultra ranking leader, heading for the Olympus Marathon. ©iancorless.com /SWS

The women’s record stands at 5h21’36” set by American Stevie Kremer in 2016.

Saturday marks the 14th edition of the race, for the first time on the Migu Run Skyrunner® World Series. Here, the elements of sea and sky come into play and modern gods and goddesses will race in a battle for the win.

*Overall Champion title is based on at least one race in each category

Ranking

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