The 20th Logicom Cyprus Marathon held on Sunday, 4th March 2018 in Paphos has surpassed all expectations. Nearly 3,000 runners flooded the streets of Paphos, giving pulse, energy and liveliness to the seductive city of Aphrodite.
The Running Festival included four different distances. The 42,195 km Marathon, a 21,098 km Half-Marathon, a 10 km race and a 5 km Fun Run. All races finished at the historic Medieval Castle of Pafos, where an amazing atmosphere was ready to be experienced by all finishers! More than 1,200 foreign runners visited the island of Cyprus specifically for the occasion of the 20th Logicom Cyprus Marathon and combined their hobby (running) with few days’ holidays due to the sunny weather conditions that prevail in Cyprus.
The competition was intense between the first Marathon runners, with two English managing to take the first and second places and two Cypriots to follow in 3rd and 4th place. Adam Holland crossed the finish line in 2 hours 46 minutes and 14 seconds, and Christopher Bird finished a minute later. Third place was taken by Cypriot Pavlos Mavroyiannis of Logicom Running Team and Andreas Efstathiou finished in fourth place. The Polish flag was raised first in women, with Milena Grabska-Grzegorczyk finishing first with a time of 3 hours 21 minutes and 50 seconds. Estonian runner Kairit Valk finished in second place and the German, Silke Schuett, completed the podium. The first winners of Marathon were honored with olive wreaths embedded in gold produced in Marathon village in Greece and were awarded by the Chief Financial Officer of Logicom, Mr. Anthoulis Papachristoforou.
The Half-Marathon was a Hungarian case, with the first place in men going to Hungarian Olympic Champion Gabor Jozsa with 1:09:33 and the first place in women to Fruzsina Bakonyi also from Hungary. The second man was Russian Alexander Bryukhankov and third place the Englishman Matthew Leeman. Zsanett Móczó and Zita Kovács both from Hungary finished in second and third place respectively, completing the Hungarian takeover.
A Cypriot dominated the 10 km race, Marios Apostolides won the race in a time of 33 minutes and 23 seconds. Just 4 seconds behind him, Russian Andrey Alypov and the podium was completed by Englishman Simon Croft. Estonian Olga Andrejeva won the first place in women with 37 minutes and 18 seconds, followed by Greek Olympic Triathlete Deniz Marina Dimakis with 38 minutes 43 seconds. The top three was completed by Dariia Lushnikova from Russia. The winners of the 10 km race were honored by DHL’s Country Manager, Valentinos Piritsitsis.
Nearly 1000 runners/walkers took part in the 5 km fun run which shows that year by year it attracts not only citizens from the city of Paphos but also from other cities in Cyprus. For the record, the Cypriot runner Avraam Avraam finished first with 17 minutes and 22 seconds and the runner of Dro.Me.A. Racing Elpida Christodoulidou took the first place for women with a time of 20 minutes and 32 seconds. Runners ran around the archaeological site of Paphos on a highly attractive and scenic route! The race was organized with an objective of promoting running as a part of a healthy lifestyle and attracted the participation of several Cypriot and foreign runners.
It is also worth mentioning that without the valuable help of over 200 volunteers the organization could not have become a reality. Also, the support of companies and organizations such as Logicom, the Cyprus Tourism Organization, DHL Cyprus, Scaffolding Solutions, AGROS water, Saucony, High5 Sports Nutrition, Bikehub stores, Almyra Hotel, Paphos Municipality, Super FM, City Free Press, Private Evangelismos Hospital, Garmin, Louis Ledra Beach Hotel, Pafos Regional Board of Tourism, Atlantic Insurance and Fotokinisi, contributed to the immense success of the most historic Marathon of Cyprus. The next event, the 21st Logicom Cyprus Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, March 17, 2019.
This year’s Cyprus Marathon was dedicated to the great symbol of Greek and Cypriot sport, Stelios Kyriakides, winner of the Boston Marathon in 1946.
