Ascending the ‘Mountain of Gods’ – The 17th Edition of the Olympus Marathon

The 17th edition of the majestic and steeped in history Olympus Marathon is upon us. The Olympus Marathon is an international mountain running event in Greece, on top of Mount Olympus, where competitors will ascend the mythical ‘Mountain of Gods’. The route itself revives the sacred trail ancient Greeks scaled to honour and offer sacrifices to the ‘ruler of the Olympian Gods', Zeus.

Following the postponement of the race, competitors will be back on the mythical trail on the 26th of June and will have to muster every ounce of their resolve for a gruelling 44km and 3200m of elevation. The race will begin at 05:30 (GMT +3) at the Archaeological Park of Dion.

Saturday, 26th June 2021

17th Olympus Marathon 2021

Olympus Marathon, the unique trail running race, took place today, on 26 of June 2021, on Mount Olympus for the 17th time. It’s a demanding race of 44km length in the Mount of Gods with 3200m of positive accent. Τhis year Olympus Marathon was run under unique conditions for all the participants, strictly following all the safe measures and at the same time trying to make it convenient to all those, who took part in it.

The route taken by the athletes is an ancient holy trail followed by pilgrims, who travelled from Dion to the summits of Mount Olympus, in homage to Zeus.

Starting in Dion, this year’s 415 athletes followed an uphill route for 21 kilometres, to reach an altitude of 2600 metres in the Muses Plateau. They then crossed “Zonaria”, below the well-known Throne of Zeus, and started their descent via “Zolotas” refuge, “Prionia” and Enipeas Gorge, before completing their exciting race in Litochoro town.

This year’s winner was Dimitrios Theodorakakos of Salomon Hellas, 05:09:25. The second place took Dimitrios Eleutheriou of Dynafit, 05:13:11. The third winner was Thanasis Pagounadis of Salomon Hellas, 05:15:52.

In the women’s category, the first winner was Christina Giazitzidou of Salomon Hellas with, 06:06:28. The second place took Maria Malai of La Sportiva Team Greece, 06:19:52. The third woman winner was Foteini Koloka of Salomon Hellas, 06:25:33.

Despite today’s high temperatures and very hot weather conditions, 365 athletes have finished the race in valid time representing 13 countries.

The Olympus Marathon Trail Running event takes place in cooperation with the Municipality of Dion-Olympos.

The Main Sponsor is the company PRODEA Investments Company.

Sponsors are Salomon, Suunto, Runner Store, Deloitte, Stoiximan, ELVAL COLOUR, Ravago Hellas, Novo Νordisk, Squeezy Sports Nutrition, Vikos natural mineral water.