The roads from Athens to Sparta were even more punishing than I had imagined. In fact, by the double marathon mark, about 52 miles (83km) in, just after crossing the engineering marvel of the Corinth Canal, but with over 100 miles (160km) still to go, I began to realise that this was the start of the race and my legs were already in shreds. I reconciled this rather depressing outlook with thought that I was nearly at the first major checkpoint and that hopefully some decent food would be available. The cup of hot soup with noodles I was subsequently offered there was taken with immense gratitude – efcharistó (Thank you!)

I’ve been hanging on for 26km…. I haven’t got another 34 in me’ I pleaded with Claire… ‘you don’t realise how horrible this is!’ she could see the turmoil that I was in but there was nothing she could do except try to encourage me to continue… ‘Walk if you have too but keep going.’ She said calmly… Paul thrust a can of sprite into my hand ‘Drink this, it’ll give you a boost’ I didn’t believe him but gulped it down.

Looking back on this challenge, I have many feelings, relief of finally finishing after 3 failed attempts, immense personal satisfaction, and thanks to my Family, especially Allison, for her encouragement to get out of bed and run for the past 6 months and thanks Martin in helping me get to the finish with just the right advice when things were going pear shaped.

This time I also fully appreciated how much this race means to the other runners, and even more so how much it means to the Greek people who are involved in it and how proud they are of this race and the history it points back. Pheidippides historic run back in ancient Hellas helping change the course of history and turning the tide against the other super power of the age the Persians.

Spartathletes,

I am taking the opportunity to write this as I won’t be able to be alongside your journey this year. After 13 years of education, it is now time to proceed to university. I’m both nervous and excited, but simultaneously gutted as my course starts before the Spartathlon.

Ο Κομφούκιος είχε πει πως η μεγαλύτερη νίκη μας δεν είναι πως δεν πέφτουμε ποτέ, αλλά πως κάθε φορά που πέφτουμε, σηκωνόμαστε και πάλι. Όσοι  έζησαν τις προσπάθειες μου, με είδαν δυο φορές να πέφτω, αλλά κάθε φορά να σηκώνομαι και να επιμένω. Έτσι με θράσος μπήκα τρίτη φορά στον αγώνα με ένα διαρκές πέπλο μιας ακόμα αποτυχίας να αιωρείται πάνω από την καταρρακωμένη αυτοπεποίθησή μου. Αλλά φέτος ήταν όλα αλλιώς.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped, supported or contributed to the British Spartathlon Team in 2016 in whatever capacity. We hope you’ve enjoyed the journey! Runners had adopted various strategies in their build up to Spartathlon, with the ultimate goal of course of reaching Sparta. Some runners also opted to head out to Athens earlier in order to combine some pre-race relaxation and acclimatisation. 

The long tortuous wait was finally over and after another year of tough training, much discussion and some improved results, the biggest test of my metal was beckoning once again. The Iconic Spartathlon! This is without a shadow of doubt the toughest challenge I personally have ever faced but I absolutely love this historic race!

Last year on my debut I was delighted to finish in a time of 31:33:53 and third British runner, which was a great bonus, but the British team on the whole enjoyed great success with the best British finish percentage in years (62%)

Κατ αρχήν και μετα από 15 μέρες , θέλω να συγχαρώ από καρδιάς κι από εδώ όλους τους δρομείς που έλαβαν μέρος στον αγώνα . Ασχέτως αποτελέσματος , αν τερμάτισαν η όχι . Επίσης πάρα πολλά συγχαρητήρια στους Εθελοντές , στου Φωτογράφους, στους Διασώστες ,στους Διοργανωτές… και όλους όσοι βοήθησαν να βγεί είς πέρας αυτός ο αγώνας . Για τον αγώνα αυτόν, ότι και να πω , θα είναι πολύ λίγο …άλλωστε πολλοί άνθρωποι , δρομείς και μη , έχουν κατά καιρούς γράψει τι σημαίνει και τι είναι αυτός ο αγώνας και τώρα που αξιώθηκα και έλαβα μέρος , μπορώ να …σας τα επιβεβαιώσω κι εγώ και να προσθέσω ΄΄…και λίγα είπαν ΄!!!

Σπάρταθλον, ο αγώνας στόχος της χρονιάς και ο αγώνας που ήτανε στο μυαλό μου τα τελευταία 5-6 χρόνια. Θυμάμαι από το 2010 που έβλεπα από τον υπολογιστή την ζωντανή διεξαγωγή του αγώνα και έμενα εντυπωσιασμένος από τα νούμερα που έβλεπα, τον αριθμό των χλμ και από την διάρκεια του αγώνα.
Ο καιρός πέρασε και έφτασε η ώρα για μένα να τρέξω και εγώ σε αυτόν τον περιβόητο αγώνα. Η προετοιμασία ουσιαστικά ξεκίνησε από το 2015 τρέχοντας κυρίως σε αγώνες υπεραπόστασης ασφάλτου.

For the long distance runner, the Spartathlon is a kind of Matterhorn. It has the ingredients of an epic: a finish line that stretches a long, long way from the start; 153 miles, almost six consecutive marathons. There is a big mountain at the 100 mile mark, a big city at the start, a big cold night in the middle, and a big percentage of runners who don’t make it. The race has international prestige and gathers runners from all corners of the world. To top it off, the course claims a remarkable history. According to Herodotus, in 490 B.C the Athenian runner Philippides left Athens and arrived in Sparta the next day. His legendary run was for the purpose of asking the Spartans for help against the invading Persians before the conflict that would lead to the battle of Marathon. It was a run to save democracy, a run to save the foundations of Western culture.

There is nothing else like Spartathlon. Last year, I ran it for the first time. It was an incredible experience, and I knew almost before it even started that I would have to come back. It is, indeed, The Greatest Footrace on Earth. Last year, I set an aggressive best-case goal of under 30 hours. I had some rough patches, but managed to pull it together and run 29:35, which I was absolutely thrilled with. Only a small handful of Americans have ever run under 30 hours.

The truth is, Spartathlon was never a "dream" race for me, more like a "eh, that might be interesting some day" kind of race. But my friend Bob Hearn ran it last year and was enamored with it and my running partner Dennis was also quite interested in it and spent time talking about how cool it would be to do. So when the application period opened in January and Bob told me I had till May before I had to commit any money, I thought I would throw my name in the hat. Well, that was a very slippery slope! Sending in an application meant spending time on the website and learning a bit more about the race, so that by the time the lottery results came out, there was no way I was turning down my spot. (I met the auto-qualification standards by being at least 20% faster than the regular qualification standard of 24 hrs for a 100M run, so it wasn't exactly a shock that I got in, but I was still super excited to see the "Congratulations, you have been accepted to Spartathlon" email!). Well, on to Greece!