220 athletes enjoyed a triathlon in perfect conditions - Christodoulopoulos “The Kid” and Adrianopoulos do the show!

The Schiniathlon week-end of the 09/10th May has been a great success, by far the best event in terms ofathletes’ level, conditions, support and organisation.

Saturday and Sunday opened up on a fantastic clear blue sky with strong sun and a sea as flat as a lake. 30 volunteers turned up each day for their duties, at 7h30 in the morning, giving their time and energy to make the event work like a clock. And they succeeded! It is all the most remarkable, that most of the volunteers were themselves athletes, racing one of the day’s event. Thanks to all the volunteers, you made the difference.

Schiniathlon also benefited from a top quality infrastructure. The generous financial support provided by our major sponsor Multiramaallowed us to set up the event in the most professional manner but also to invest durably for quality. Investing in: research and development for time-keeping device based on RFID timing chipsand antennas, tents for time keeping area, beach flags, segregation barriers, cones and marking materials etc…

In these perfect conditions, all was left was for the athletes to race!

92 athletes took up the challenge of the long distance triathlon made of 1500m swim, 60km bike and 15km run. 66 individual and 26 team-members packed up on the starting line.

23 years-old Panos Christodoulopoulos already made quite an impression at the January Duathlon, when he gave his all-out to stay on the heels of confirmed veteran Chronis Drougias throughout the race, managing a very close 2nd place overall. 
On Sunday, he was going to show us all the class, talent and dedication he devotes to the sport of triathlon. And what a lesson he gave us! 
He finished the race in 1st position, in 2h55mn, 10 minutes clear of the next athlete, posting the best swim time, best bike time and best run time of the race… unbelievable achievement, to race with such excellence in all 3 sports, over such a distance. Not only is he a top-class Greek triathlete but he would surely do amazing performances should he chose to pick some races abroad and start measuring himself to the European field… 
Panos was followed, 10 minutes later by George Alyfantis who posted the 2nd swim time and 3rd run time of the day. Closing in in 3rd position was Boni Sali, newby triathlete from Turkey, who posted a 3h05mn time for his first triathlon! Good luck to Boni, who came to Schiniathlon to practice before attempting his first Ironman 70.3 in Europe. 

The women field was very small, with only 4 of them attempting the challenge, 3 of which raced a triathlon for their first time ever. The experienced Sarah Paterson won the women’s category in 3h33mn, posting the 16th time of the day overall which is an amazing performance! Once again her excellent swimming level gave her a lead that she managed to maintain throughout the bike and the run. 
Milena Michopoulou followed 4 minutes later, showing great consistency over the 3 sports and a very good time at the bike. Charitini Nepka capitalised on her swimming background to finish in a very reasonable 3h48mn.

The corporate challenge field also had some very interesting surprises! Let’s clarify again that the “corporate challenge” is made of team-members of who complete the event as a team-relay: 1 athlete does the swim, another athlete does the bike, and the last athlete does the run. These athletes race to represent their companies.

Giannis Drimonakos of “Moraitis Sports” Team, former holder of a European swim record, posted the best swimming time of the day in 19mn54sc, keeping a 3mn30sc lead with the chasing pack. This gave “Moraitis Sports”Team the final victory overall. 
Stavros Kanellopoulos of “IzzyRace” Team, did the fastest bike time of the day in 1h25mn, with a gap of 6mn to the next best cycling time. And his Team got 2nd place. 
Giannis Sekiotis, of “Maglaris Bike” posted the 2nd fastest run of the day in 59mn29sc. And the Team won the 3rd place overall.

This long distance triathlon was for the confirmed endurance athletes who could handle the distances within the time-limits set by the organisers. 
Not everyone belongs to this category of athletes though and there had to be something for the first-timers or sprint athletes, simply willing to have a feel of what triathlon is like.

113 athletes attempted the short distance triathlon most of them first-timers, over 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.

It was however an experienced triathlete, former Greek champion Filippos Adrianopoulos who led the pack and showed us the pace. Posting the best swim of the day in 11mn52sc, he went on to perform the best bike of the day in 45mn17sc. This gave him enough lead to have a steady run and finish in a comfortable 1st place. Filippos clocked in 01h07, one full minute ahead of his next opponent. 
Kostas Papanikolaou came in 2nd place, having enjoyed a good swim and a good bike, he went on to post the fastest run time of the day in 20mn 19sc. 
Stelios Adreadis followed 2 minutes behind in 1h10.

The women’s field was quite substantial at the Sprint, with 11 of them attempting the challenge. 
Chrysothemi Spiliopoulou travelled from England to race her first triathlon on her homeland and she did well: she won the race in 1h20mn. She was the fastest girl in all 3 sports, posting a swim and a bike time worth a 10th place in the men’s category! 
Maria Kamisaki travelled from Crete and did well too, finishing just 5mn behind Chrysothemi. Christina Bahnoucompleted the women’s podium, finishing the race in 1h29mn, with Maragaret Papazkou on her heels, just a few seconds behind.

JP Avax won the Corporate Challenge category, followed by the Cchbc “Wave 2” team and Metka Team. JP Avax largely led the swim and bike section, while Metka posted the fastest run time of the category.

And last but not least 17 children aged from 4 to 13 bravely tackled the mini-triathlon. 
It is always a joy to watch these fearless happy kids racing with such pleasure and giving their best, all-out with no brakes. May we see more and more kids on the starting line at our next events!

The organisers would like to thank once again the tremendous support they received:

1. From our sponsors: Multirama, Avra (Cchbc), GuGels & Bonk Breaker, IzzyRace, Figame and Fit-Sn.
2. From the volunteers most of them athletes, who rose up early to help us deliver a great event.
3. The Samaritans of the Red Cross, who provide such an effective and helpful support, attending the needs and little injuries of the athletes.
4. The Traffic Police of Agia Paraskevi, who help us secure the roads and make this event as safe as possible
5. The Municipality of Marathonas, who gave a hand to clean up the area before the race
6. The photographers who worked hard over the 2 days of the event, and who (hopefully!) will be able to provide all of you with great pictures.
7. The Moraitis Sports Centre who accommodates the athletes for the start and post-race celebrations and supports the growth of triathlon with us since 2007.

Sportive regards,

The Schiniathlon Organizing comitee: Marie & Leonidas