The 8th International Marathon of Rhodes with great performances, records of foreign runners and a large number of people

In a great sporting celebration evolved the 8th International Marathon of Rhodes which broke all records in the participation of foreign runners with an increase of 35% compared to 2019, had great performances from Greek champions and a large crowd of people watching the race.

On a sunny day, everything turned out beautifully and the standouts were the Babis Pitsolis and Vasiliki Constantinopoulou who won the 10 km. Rania Reboulis and the Thanasis Byros who led the half marathon, the British Marathon winner Thomas Charles who came very close to breaking the course record, as well as the winner in the women's Katerina Asimakopoulou.

The President of SEGAS Sophia Sakorafa gave the start of the Marathon and expressed his high praise for the event: 'It is an excellent race that gives the signal to the world to integrate sport into everyday life. I came to Rhodes last year and I want to say that this year's race is even better in all areas. I would also like to thank the local committee of SEGAS for contributing to the success".

The President of the Organizing Committee of the Rhodes Marathon Marietta Papavassiliou who gave the start together with Sophia Sakorafa, excitedly said: "Every year the race gets bigger and better. This year we achieved a record in international entries with an increase of 35% and we had great Greek champions who honoured the race, such as Babis Pitsolis, Vasiliki Konstantinopoulou, Katerina Asimakopoulou, Rania Reboulis, Vangelis Malioglou and many others. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart the sponsors who support us, the volunteers who are a fundamental part of our success, the members of the Organizing Committee and the fans who came out on the streets and cheered the runners from all over the world. After 10 years, the Rhodes International Marathon has become an institution not only for Greece, but also for the international sports movement."

The awards to the winners, in the race that was broadcast live by ERT 3, made among others, the Regional Governor of South Aegean George Hadjimarkos, the Vice-Regional Governor of Sports Dodecanese Nikos Nikolis, the President of IOPAR Alexander Koliadis, the president of the EAS SEGAS Dodecanese Vassilis Zeikas, the Member of Parliament for the Dodecanese John Pappas, the Vice President of the Organizing Committee of the Marathon Eleni Adamaki and of course the President of SEGAS Sofia Sakorafa and President of the Organizing Committee of the Rhodes Marathon Marietta Papavassiliou.

The International Marathon of Rhodes was completed with the 5km and 1km races where many runners of all ages participated.

The statements of the winners

Babis Pitsolis: "It's the first time I come to the race and Rhodes. I really wanted to come and I finally found that the result is impressive. As an event it is amazing , I enjoyed the course. Last week I ran the Hamburg Marathon and despite being tired I wanted to come and experience it because I had heard a lot about the race so I didn't miss the opportunity."

Vasiliki Konstantinopoulou: "It was a very nice race, the scenery on the route was magnificent. I had run in Vienna the week before and now I didn't have the strength to run even faster, but I enjoyed it because it was like a celebration for me. I hope I can come back next year."

Thanasis Byros: "It was a very beautiful ride, there were many things to see. Rhodes is beautiful and you can see that on the route. It was my first participation and I will definitely come back. Maybe some parts of the race by the sea are windy and don't help you for records, but some races are not for records, but for the experience of participating. I will definitely come back."

Rania Reboulis: "I was very troubled by the flu the previous time and I couldn't do proper training. I said I'd go into the race and whatever came out, but in the end, first place came. I couldn't miss this race, in this gem of Greece that is Rhodes."

Thomas Charles: "It was the first time I came to Rhodes and ran the race. It was all amazing but I was sad that I didn't manage to break the course record for a while. I hope to do it another time, but I will definitely tell other runners to travel to Greece and take part."

Katerina Asimakopoulou: "I am happy for the win as I was not so well trained. That was the reason why I cramped up at some points and suffered. I want to continue my regular training to reach the level I was at. Congratulations to the organizers for an excellent race."

Results:

Marathon

Men

1 Thomas Charles (Great Britain) 2:31:00

2 Janne Silvenoien (Finland) 2:31:30

3 Vangelis Malioglou 2:39:39

Women

1 Katerina Asimakopoulou 2:47:10

2 Ye Kit Chan (Hong Kong) 2:55:04

3 Seanag Carterton (Ireland) 2:57:09

Half Marathon

Men

1 Thanasis Byros 1:14:24

2 Stefanos Leventis 1:24:00

3 Nikos Roussoulis 1:24:23

Women

1 Rania Reboulis 1:28:17

2 Patricia Martín Del Guayo (Spain) 1:32:53

3 Niki Rodanthi Diamantea 1:35:09

10 km

Men

1 Charalambos Pitsolis 32:06

2 François Morra (France) 36:57

3 Kyriakos Mastrogeorgiou 37:20

Women

1 Vasiliki Konstantinopoulou 39:12

2 Ioanna Poniri 45:28

3 Alexandra Tsatsis 50:03

Co-organizers of the race are the Non-profit Civil Society MARATHON OF RHODES, η EAS SEGAS Dodecanese, η Region of South Aegean and the Municipality of Rhodes-DOPAR. Also, the race is supported by the Dodecanese Chamber of Commerce, the Rhodes Hotel Association and the Museum of Modern Greek Art of the Municipality of Rhodes (New Wing), under the auspices of the EEA. It is carried out with the certification of the SEGAS and the International Road Marathon Federation AIMS, on an excellent coastal route that "runs" through the most important sights of Rhodes.

The major sponsor of the 8th International Marathon of Rhodes is under armour. Big Sponsor of the 5 km race & Volunteer Sponsor is the club H HotelsCollection. The sponsor of air transport is Aegean Airlines. Sponsor of Maritime Transport is the BlueStar. The hospitality sponsor is the group Mitsis Hotels. The official sponsors are  SunriseHotel, LaBranda, KAYKAS, BAP P.KOUGIOS S.A., CITROEN Paraskevas, RodosCycling, RoufasFurniture and Fraport Greece.

Communication sponsors are, the ERT3, the Radio The Catcher in the Rye, η ThreeSixtyMarketing, η Innews, η Rhodes, η democratic and the Antenna Satellite.

-For more information:

https://www.rhodesmarathon.gr/

https://www.facebook.com/roads2rhodes/

https://www.Instagram.com/roadstorhodes/

FROM THE MARATHON PRESS OFFICE