Turkish Spartathlon TeamSpartathlon
What is Spartathlon?
Spartathlon's history, rules, entry requirements and the runners from Türkiye: a video by Mert Derman, in Turkish. Watch on YouTube ↗
Spartathlon is a 246-kilometre ultramarathon run from Athens to Sparta at the end of every September. It follows the route the Athenian messenger Pheidippides is said to have run to ask Sparta for help, and it was first held in 1983.
Runners start at 07:00 at the foot of the Acropolis and finish at the statue of King Leonidas in Sparta. The overall limit is 36 hours, and each of the 75 checkpoints along the way has its own closing time; anyone who misses one is out.
Entry needs an official qualifying performance and a place is drawn from the applicants; see the official site for the current conditions.
Official site: spartathlon.gr ↗
The race at a glance
- Distance
- 246 km
- Route
- Athens (Acropolis) → Sparta (statue of King Leonidas)
- Time limit
- 36 hours
- Checkpoints
- 75
- First edition
- 1983
- 2026
- Spartathlon No. 44 · 26–27 September
Spartathlon and Türkiye
The first Turkish entry came in 2014, with Aykut Çelikbaş. Since then 12 Turkish athletes have finished a combined 29 times. There was no race in 2020.
| Year | Starters | Finishers |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | 4 |
| 2024 | 10 | 8 |
| 2023 | 5 | 3 |
| 2022 | 5 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2 | 2 |
| 2019 | 3 | 3 |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | 1 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 | 1 |
About this site
Results are compiled from the official results pages on spartathlon.gr and kept in a local archive (1983–2025, 42 editions). Times are counted from the official start. This site is not published by the Spartathlon organisation; the reports live on their authors' own sites.