With great sadness the Athens Marathon Organizing Committee, recently announced the cancellation of the 2020 Athens Marathon, that was scheduled to take place on 07 & 08 November 2020.
“Making the most of any minute of the last three months, the Top Management and Executives of our Federation made any possible effort during their discussions and cooperation with the relevant Greek Health Authorities, in order to make sure that every possibility for this annual Historic Race to go along, was studied. Even by following a very strict manual of rules and regulations, staging only the Marathon Race and not the shorter races, reducing the number of participants and having all participants to go through a COVID-19 test before the Race, at the expenses of our Federation, was not enough. It seems that even such measures would not secure the absolute safety of runners’ health, which is and will be the top priority in our minds. Taking under consideration all the above, we are extremely sorry to announce today that the 2020 Athens Marathon will not be held”.
Within the next days, the Athens Marathon Organizing Committee will contact each one of the registered runners via personalized email, informing him/her about the options they have, either deferring their registration into next year’s event (2021Athens Marathon) or receiving full refund of the entry fee already paid.
“We are very optimistic that, after this pandemic is over, we will all run together in our races in 2021, a very important year for Greece since it coincides with the anniversary of the 200 Years after the Greek Revolution.
Furthermore, and still being in 2020, we wish to inform you that we are proceeding with launching of a new, Special Edition Virtual Race, to be announced within the next days. It is going to be a race for all, full of surprises, that will allow you to test yourself either running alone on the route of your choice, or being joined by a small number of friends and/or family members. The Athens Marathon Organizing Committee has decided to proceed with such a Virtual Race, sharing the quest of the international running community for alternative ways in race running participation, and wishing to show its respect and offer a way out to all those that have trained hard all previous months of view of the e2020 Athens Marathon
We sincerely thank all parties that contributed so far to an excellent preparation for the event, and especially OPAP S.A., the Athens Marathon Grand Sponsor, as well as the Attica Region, the Cities of Athens and Marathon, the Hellenic Olympic Committee, the rest of our Sponsors and Supporters. But most of all, we thank and applaud the protagonists of the Athens Marathon; the staff members, the thousands of volunteers and participants that all these years have shown such love and confidence to the Athens Marathon, turning it into a unique race of international status”.