The Original Historical Course

The Marathon Race starts at 09:00 from the designated area of the Marathon Start Venue in the City of Marathonas.  The start for those who wish to walk the course (Marathon Power Walking) will be given at 07:00 sharp.

The first 200m of the course are slopping, leading to the exit of the Marathon Start Venue.  The first 4 kilometers go downhill.  The runners run along the Marathonos Avenue up to the 4th km, when they turn right and enter the Marathonomachon Street and the Marathon Tomb, which they follow for the next 2.2km.  The course follows a rather circular route around the War Memorial for those that fought during the Marathon Battle (Marathon Tomb).

The course is becoming flat from the 6th to the 10th km.  From the 11th to the 17th km, the course goes uphill at certain parts.  Then, and before the Rafina Junction, the runners meet a steep descent.  Starting from the Rafina Junction, the course goes uphill again, while the most difficult part is until the 20th km.  As the runners pass along the town Pikermi, they run through some, more or less, uphill parts of the course up to the 25th km.  The passage through the city of Pallini (27th-28th km) is also rising.  The last and most difficult part of the course starts from Gerakas and goes up to Agia Paraskevi (30th-31st km).  A steep ascent at the stavros Juntion is followed by a steep descent leading to the agia Paraskevi Square.  Then, the runners follow the Mesogeion Avenue, going through the districts of Chalandri and Cholargos, meeting flat and downhill parts of the course up to the finish.  The most charateristic downhill part is the one that starts from the Ministry of National Defense and finishes at the Katechaki Junction (27.5km).

Right after the Erricos Dynnan Hosptial (38th km), the runners continue left on Michalkopoulou St. until the traffic lights of Michalakopoulou and Fidipidou Street crossroad.  Following that point, they continue running on Fidipidou Street until the crossroad of Kiffisia & Alexandras Avenue.  The latter crossroad hightlights the 39th km, while the runners continue left on Vas. Sofias Avenues.  On Vas. Sofias Avenue, the runners pass by the American Embassy, the Athens Music Hall and the Park of Freedom (Parko Eleftherias).

As they reach the Hilton Hotel, they slightly turn right heading towards the Syntagma Square, passing by the Evaggelismos Hosptial and Army Museum.  At the last part of the course and having turned on the Hrodou Attikou Street, the runners have eye contact with the Panathinaikon Stadium.  Only a few meters remain in order for the runners to enter the Stadium and run the last 170 meters inside it, before they reach the finish line.