04 May 2008 - Schinias Bay, Marathonas - Triathlon

Schiniathlon celebrated its 1st birthday in an innovative fashion: new format (multi-sport challenge), new distances (short and long), new discipline (beach-volley), new category (kids) and… new record of participation!

• 38 athletes took on the long distance challenge
• 36 athletes took on the short distance challenge
• and 6 kids attempted their first event, aged between 3 and 11 y-old!

Perfect weather conditions, again, welcomed the Schiniathletes on this early morning challenge. Flat and warm sea, a quiet breeze of fresh air to cool down temperatures closing to 25 degrees, and a bright blue sky above us…

At 9am sharp, the departure of the long swim saw all green-headed athletes throwing themselves in the shallow clear water of Moraitis Beach for a 1500m race. The unbeatable Sarah Paterson led the pack again in an impressive 20:20mn, leaving all the guys well behind. On the bike, Alex Christodoulou hammered heavily on the mountain road, to clock the best time in 1:12:24 for 40km, despite a challenging road including several steep up-hills. Chris Mavrikios concluded the long distance event with a time of 34:15mn for the 9km Forest run.

At 10am sharp, the small events started with the 750m swim. New-comer Hana Sykorova created the surprise at her 1st participation, finishing 1st overall, showing strong consistency over the 3 disciplines. She was closely followed byJames Brown (!) who completed his 1st multi-sport event in great style. And another new-comer, Pavlos Panagiotopoulos, also his 1st attempt ever, took 3rd overall position with an impressive bike ride of 20km clocked in 34:07mn.

Last but not least, the little kids’ event was somewhat hilarious to watch: from 3 y-old Vassili to 11 y-old “IronKid-to-be” Ismael, the 6 kids looked quite excited and totally unimpressed on the starting line! French Emilie led the pack with a very impressive swim performance, while 3 y-old Vassili rode in joy his “Puky Bike” to victory across the car-park, escorted by a crew of runners!

The fun, smiley faces, satisfaction, achievements, friendly atmosphere were more than ever the successful ingredients of this Schiniathlon. Post-race curry-buffet and prize ceremony, followed by the beach-volley tournament, kept the community together well into the afternoon.

A mention for the traditional folkloric touches of this edition:

• The Pappas competed the 40 km on a tandem-bike,
• a runner went barefoot into the forest, having forgotten his shoes,
• a cyclist didn’t know how to change gears and rode up the mountain in 1st gear,
• a runner was seen wearing his bike helmet throughout the whole run, and…
• a swimmer completed the swim event with a snorkel!

This edition “a la carte” proved to serve its purpose: new-comers had a chance to give it a try at the short-distance event, while more experienced athletes enjoyed the new challenge of a longer distance race.  
The crew of volunteers did a great job in their efforts to ensure safety and make each athlete feel comfortable, providing them with drinks and cheering them up in encouragement.

Dimitris, Marie and Leonidas would like to once again congratulate all the athletes for their fantastic performance and the good spirit in which they raced yesterday. The road to putting this event together was a rough one, but you all showed us it was well worth it!

Keep up your efforts, enjoy your training… and see you all again (and more) in September!

Aloha, sportively yours,

The Schiniathlon Organisation Team.