Welcome to Marathon
On the green east coast of Attica, ~35 km from Athens. A sweeping bay, pine forest and crystal water, and the legendary site of the Battle of Marathon, 490 BC.
This is where a hopelessly outnumbered Athenian-Plataean force turned back the Persian invasion. Legend has it the messenger Pheidippides then ran the ~40 km to Athens to gasp out a single word, “Nenikēkamen!”, we won, before dropping dead. The race that carries the town's name has run on that story ever since.
The 192 Athenian dead still rest beneath the Soros, the burial mound that rises from the plain, and the calm of Schinias Beach is just a short stroll away.
Now, some 2 500 years later, 80 Nordics land on the same plain to finish the job. Reinforcements from the north, arriving a little late, with better footwear and no intention of running all the way to Athens.
