The Athens Classic Marathon, The Authentic, is an annual marathon road race held in Athens, normally in early November (the second Sunday of November), since 1972. It also often serves as Greece's national marathon championships. The race attracted 16,000 competitors in 2015 for the 42.195 kilometre (26.2 mile) course, being an all-time record for the event. The marathon race and course is inspired by the ancient Greek legend of Pheidippides, a messenger who is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to bring news of the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.(wikipedia)