20th Olympus Marathon

The 20th anniversary event of the Olympus Marathon was completed with great success on the three days of June 28-30, 2024.

Olympus Marathon, the only international mountain running race took place on June 29, 2024. A demanding race of 44km on the Mountain of the Gods with 3350m of positive elevation gain. The start was given at 06:05 in the morning at sunrise from the Archaeological Park in Dion. The route followed by the runners is the sacred course of antiquity, when the pilgrims of the city of Zeus climbed every summer to the peaks of Olympus to honor Zeus.

The start was taken by 600 athletes, who followed an uphill route of 21km reaching 2780m altitude, on the Plateau of the Muses. Then they crossed the Zonaria, just below the Throne of Zeus and started the descent passing the refuge A, Prionia and the Enipeas Canyon, to finish after an exciting route in Litochoro.

This year a new course record of 04:44:26 was set by Vassilis Balamotis. Christina Giazitzidou finished with a time of 05:43:44, which is a new course record in the general women’s category. The first Greek man winner and the first Greek woman winner of the Olympus Marathon 2024 race have won a 10-day trip to Switzerland with free participation in the races Thyon-Dixence (on 04/08/24) and Sierre-Zinal (on 10/08/24), with travel, accommodation and food expenses covered (cooperation with the organization of Sierre–Zinal, Switzerland).

Olympus Marathon 2024 men’s podium:

1. Vasilis Balamotis (Salomon Hellas) 04:44:26 (Greece)
2. Dimitris Seletis (Kasimis Training – LaSportiva Greece) 04:45:13 (Greece)
3. Dimitris Theodorakakos (Salomon Hellas) 04:59:47 (Greece)

Olympus Marathon 2024 women’s podium:

1. Christina Giazitzidou (Salomon Hellas) 05:43:44 (Greece)
2. Maria Papapastolou (Dynafit – Ursa Team) 05:56:07 (Greece)
3. Marialena Barouti 06:00:44 (Greece)

Within the time-limit of 12 hours, 539 athletes finished.

For the 5th time, Olympus Ultra ultra-distance trail race took place, 71km long with a positive altitude difference of 5550m, a race with great difficulty and incredible beauty, since it passes by the Northern side of Mount Olympus and its second highest peak, Sholio at 2911m. This year there was a record participation and 168 athletes stood at the start.

Olympus Ultra 2024 men’s podium:

1. Antoine Guillon (Team Globetrailer – Unifer) 10:57:52 (France)
2. Georgios Dimoulas 11:00:13 (Greece)
3. Stelios Petroutsos 11:04:41 (Greece)

Olympus Ultra 2024 women’s podium:

1. Victoria Georgopoulou 14:53:15 (Greece)
2. Marcela Van Hemert 15:26:15 (Holland)
3. Vasilia Panteri 15:45:44(Greece)

Within the time-limit of 22 hours, 134 athletes finished.

In the “Vertical Kilometer” Olympus Vertical race of 4.25km with 1000m of positive altitude difference, on the well-known and beautiful path “Gomarostali“, the big winners for another year were Giorgos Dialektos with a time of 00:48:13 and Fotini Meintani with a time of 00 :55:52.

Olympus Vertical 2024 men’s podium:

1. Giorgos Dialektos (Salomon Hellas) 00:44:12 (Greece)
2. Christos Sakkas (Freedom Running Team) 00:46:27 (Greece)
3. Manolos Xintarakos (Salomo Hellas – Krommidas Trail) 00:48:15 (Greece)

Olympus Vertical 2024 women’s podium:

1. Foteini Mentani (Salomon Hellas) 00:53:15 (Greece)
2. Chrysoula Vlisarouli (Vmaxtraining) 00:55:04 (Greece)
3. Maria Loufeki (MPP – Scott Running Greece) 00:55:57 (Greece)

A total of 54 athletes took part in the race and all finished successfully.

In the “Eagles Ridge” race, a 12.5km race with a positive elevation gain of +600m, which has become very popular in recent times, 474 athletes started, of which 469 validly finished.

Eagles’ Ridge men’s podium 2024:

1. Emmanouil Pourikas (Saucony Greece) 01:08:02 (Greece)
2. Andreas Manetas (Kasimis Training) 01:09:06 (Greece)
3. Christos Paraskevas 01:14:00 (Greece)

Eagles’ Ridge women’s podium 2024:

1. Foteini Mentani (Salomon Hellas) 01:20:03 (Greece)
2. Marina Boufeti (Baliotis Natural Trail) 01:33:11 (Greece)
3. Rodanthi Niki Diamantea (Santa Running Team) 01:35:31 (Greece)

The 136 athletes started in the smallest race of the Melindra Trail event with a distance of 5km and a positive altitude difference of +180m, of whom all finished successfully.

Melindra Trail men’s podium2024:

1. Christos Sakkas (Freedom Running Team) 00:22:33 (Greece)
2. Dorian Pol Michailidis 00:24:00 (Greece)
3. Apostolos Tsianakas 00:30:14 (Greece)

Melindra Trail women’s podium 2024

1. Nektaria Moutsi (VG Distance Running) 00:31:02 (Greece)
2. Aggeliki Alkistis Zografou 00:33:24 (Greece)
3. Maria Afentaki 00:33:59 (Greece)

In the children’s races, the participations (children from schools in the wider region, but also children of Olympus Marathon athletes) have exceeded 350, which gives a unique color to the program of the event and an optimistic message for the future of mountain running in the country us. The Special Race for the Disabled was also held, a special race that moved those who watched it. The warm applause of the people, excited the participants and encouraged them to keep trying.

In total, athletes from 33 countries took part in the races.

We extend our sincere gratitude to our esteemed sponsors for their invaluable support:

P. Development Services, Konstantopoulos S.A. Olymp, Novo Nordisk, Nitecore, Vasilikos, Polo, Performance-Store, Anthrax, Vikos, Divine Forest accommodation (Litochoro), Salomon & Suunto, Camelbak, Desocks, Fylliana, Melissa, and the Antonis & Ioannis Angelikousis Foundation.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to our supporters:

Epiros, S&E Kulkoudinas, FIX Hellas, the Federation of People’s Markets of Thessaly-Macedonia-Thrace, Tsakiris Chips, Maurten, Apo Kardias Bardakis (Katerini), KTEL N. Pieria, Violanda, the Gastrodromio en Olympou restaurant (Litochoro), Sunday‘s pizza kouzina bar restaurant (Litochoro), the Erato restaurant (Litochoro), To Tzaki pizzeria (Litochoro), Coffee Mountain cafe (Litochoro), Mple cafe (Litochoro), Dilos Oikodomiki (Katerini), Aegean Motorway, Bitopoulos Stefanos & Bitopoulou Stefania (Katerini), and Nika Stella (Litochoro).

Thank you to our contact sponsors:

– ADVENDURE Adventure Endurance Network, Trailgirl.gr, Palmos 96.5, Thomaidis Trail.

The 20th edition of the Olympus Marathon is held under the auspice of the Ministry of Tourism, the Hellenic Tourism Organization and the Ministry of Education, Religion and Sports.

This year’s anniversary event was honored with the presence of the President of the EOT (Greek National Tourist Organization) Angela Gerekou and the Marathon runner, the Greek record holder in the Marathon on the classic route and the Greek marathon record holder Maria Polyzou, the deputies of the prefecture, the Vice-Regional Governor Sofia Mavridou and the Mayor of Dion-Olympus, Mr. Vangelis Geroliolios.