Marathoners

 These two girls will be running the Authentic Athens Marathon on November 8th

The marathon takes 3-4 hours, running 42.195 kilometres (26.2 miles)  from the village of Marathon to the Marble Stadium in Central Athens

Athletic sisters, Nels and Poppi

Both are runners and rowers 

They have been training all summer 

Never mind the high temperatures or their busy summer jobs

Here they are running round Poros, training up hills and along the coast roads

Nels running a half marathon last year in Rhodes

And grinning all the way

The history of the Marathon began in 490BC.  A Greek soldier called

Pheithippides, 2,500 years ago, ran the same route these girls will run

The short story -

The Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.  The Greeks were outnumbered and not expected to win.  Pheithippides ran the 42ks to deliver the news of the great victory.  He burst into the Athens Senate

'Nike, Nike....

Victory, victory

Rejoice

We conquer'

Then he collapsed from exhaustion and died

......So the story goes

These two girls have trained too long and hard to be overcome by exhaustion.  They'll wipe their brows, drink some water and pose for their  victory photos.

2 very determined, and fit, young women

Of course you'll be reading more

A victory blog

After their victorious run