Kenya’s Bett sets Marathon to Athens race record

Kenyan runner Raymond Bett set the race record for the Athens Classic Marathon, but it’s not the fastest time ever run on the original marathon course from Marathon to Athens.

Bett won the Athens Classic Marathon – which runs on the original course created for the first modern Olympics 1896 from Marathon to Athens – in a race record time of 2:11:35. The race has a grueling uphill climb from 10K to 31K, followed by a steady decline for the final 10K.

According to the Globe Runner website, Bett took the lead with 4K left to run, winning almost a minute ahead of second-place finisher Paul Kosgi (2:12:20) and third place finisher Alex Kirui (2:12:26).

Prior to the race, Bett, who won two years ago, told the website he had been running hills to prepare for the race.

“I was always confident I could win,” said Bett. “I used the experience of winning here two years ago, to hang at the back of the group in the hills, and come through at the end. The conditions today were good, but if I come back again, I think I could break the course record.”

But Bett’s feat was only good for the race record, not the course record, Globe Runner points out. In 2004, Italy’s Stefano Baldini won the Olympic marathon on the same course with a time of 2:10:55.