THE 2012 Cyprus marathon, half marathon and 10 km road race is taking place in Paphos on Sunday March 11 for the 14th consecutive year.
Close to 500 runners are expected to take part in the three events and already, participants from the UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria, South Africa and Canada have registered to enter.
“Usually, most of the overseas runners are from the UK but we expect to also get participants from Italy, France and other EU countries,” said race organiser Savvas Kakourides.
The full marathon will see entrants start at Petra tou Romiou (Aphrodite’s rock) and finish at the ancient castle in Kato Paphos. The other two races will start and finish at the Castle square.
Every year hundreds of runners and spectators gather in the town for the popular event. According to the race director, most are amateur runners taking part for fun or raising money for charity.
“Alongside the amateur runners, there are a few runners who compete for the best time and who are very good,” he said.
Last years winners included, Gabor Szabo, a Hungarian runner, who won the Marathon in a time of 2:44:07. Germany’s Silvia Schmied was first in the women category with a time of 3:26:00.
Swiss runner Pierre Fournier won the half marathon with a time of 1:16:31.Bulgarian Emilia Hristova was first of the women to finish, with the time of 1:37:39.
All participants in the 2012 races will receive a souvenir T-shirt and a finisher’s medal. Trophies will be awarded in 50 different age group categories.
The event also has an entertainment programme, which will include ‘Greek music of the 20th century’, as well as performances of Greek and Cypriot folk dances.
This year’s event sees the race headquarters based at the ‘En Plo’ Paphos Municipality Exhibition Hall, which is found close to Paphos castle.
“Many of the overseas entrants come to Cyprus with their families and combine the races with a holiday, which is obviously good for the local economy,” Kakourides said.
An entry fee is charged for each race; the full marathon is 35 euros, the half marathon 29 euros and the 10km race 22 euros.
For further information: – www.cyprusmarathon.com or contact race director, Stavros Kakourides, (00357) 22370396, Mobile: (00 357) 99436826 E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
