This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
On November 10, 2019, Kenyan John Kipkorir Komen made history by winning the 37th Athens Classic Marathon, clocking an impressive 2 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds in the rain.
At 42 years old, Komen's victory marked a remarkable achievement, as he overtook Rwanda's Felicien Muhitira, who had led from the start, about 600 meters from the finish.
Muhitira, 25, took second place in 2:16.43, followed closely by Greece's Konstantinos Gkelaouzos, 29, who finished in 2:19.02.
Kenya's Daniel Muindi came in fourth with a time of 2:21.39, while Morocco's Khamis Bakari finished fifth in 2:23.36.
The women's race was won by Eleftheria Petroulaki of Greece, who clocked 2:45.50.
Some 20,000 runners from dozens of countries participated in the authentic marathon, which began near the tumulus erected for the Greek dead from the Battle of Marathon in 490BC and ended in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.
