Spartathlon

Spartathlon runs from the foot of the Acropolis in Athens to Sparta, the capital of Laconia, and finishes in front of the statue of King Leonidas. The course is 245.3 kilometers and the limit is 36 hours. The 2026 race, on September 26 and 27, is the 44th.

It's one of the hardest races in the sport to get into. The field is capped at about 400 and every runner needs a recent qualifying performance first. The 2026 start list has 403 names, 62 of them Greek.

Mostly road, with 75 checkpoints between Athens and Sparta, and each one has its own closing time. A runner who reaches a checkpoint after it closes is out of the race. The route runs from sea level up to 1,200 meters, and one stretch climbs about 960 meters in 13 kilometers. The start is on the pedestrian street of Dionysiou Areopagitou below the Acropolis at 7 a.m. on a Saturday, and the finish closes at 7 p.m. on the Sunday.

Applications open once a year, from January 25 to February 25, and only runners who meet one of the race's qualifying standards can apply. Examples are a 100-mile finish inside 21 hours for men or 22 for women, 180 km for men or 170 km for women in a 24-hour race, or an earlier Spartathlon finish inside 36 hours, all run inside the race's qualifying window. If more than 400 qualify, runners who beat a standard by at least 25%, the previous year's winners, ten-time finishers and a country's only applicant get in automatically, and the rest go into a lottery. Countries have caps: Japan 40, Germany 30, Greece 50 and others up to 25. Runners from Japan and Germany apply through their national Spartathlon offices. The fee is 450 euros, and international runners also buy a 1,250-euro package.