2,500th Anniversary of Pheidippides Legendary Run to Be Celebrated
BOSTON - (March 12, 2010) - Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, will run the 2010 Athens Classic Marathon, announced Marathon Tours and Travel , an official travel agency of the event. Scheduled for Oct. 31, 2010, the Athens Classic Marathon will commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of Pheidippides legendary run from the battlefields of Marathon to the city of Athens in 490 BC.
Switzer, an Emmy Award-winning TV commentator of marathons, winner of the 1974 New York City Marathon and author of the best-selling memoir Marathon Woman, and her husband, Roger Robinson, an acclaimed running historian and writer, will be featured speakers and celebrity hosts for the Marathon Tours(C) package.
"I am delighted that Kathrine and Roger will be able to join our Athens group on such an historic anniversary," said Thom Gilligan, president and founder of Boston-based Marathon Tours and Travel. "They both have played a significant role in the history of the marathon and will truly be an inspiration to our guests."
Switzer, now 61, changed history in 1967 when Boston Marathon race official Jock Semple tried forcibly to remove Kathrine Switzer from the then all-male marathon because she was a woman. Robinson represented England and later New Zealand in the World Cross-Country Championships and set a Boston Marathon over-40 record (2:20:15).
Switzer and Robinson live in Upstate New York and New Zealand. Together they co-authored "26.2 Marathon Stories."
The Athens Classic Marathon course will start in the small village of Marathon and trace the route used for the first modern Olympics in 1896 and the 2004 Olympics. It finishes inside the Panathanaikon Stadium. The race weekend also includes 10K and 5K events.
The Marathon Tours and Travel Athens Classic Marathon tour packages include a variety of accommodations, options, and an exclusive post-race party at one of the Plaka's oldest tavernas.
For more information contact Marathon Tours and Travel at (617) 242-7845 or visit MarathonTours.com.
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