ATHENS: The 2020 Athens Marathon, which was slated to take place on November 7-8, has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) in a statement on Thursday said that they had discussed several measures to hold the annual event in a safe manner, such as staging only the full 42km race and not the shorter distances, reducing the number of participants and having all participants undertake a Covid-19 test before the race.
"We believed that the above actions could ensure the full protection of the health of runners, which SEGAS and the Organising Committee of the Athens Marathon have as an absolute first priority. Unfortunately, although the design-proposal submitted to EODY has not been officially answered, we are obliged to cancel the Race today," SEGAS said.
Registered runners will now have the choice to defer their registration into next year's event or receive a refund of their entry fee.
"We are very optimistic that, after this pandemic is over, we will all run together in our races in 2021," SEGAS said.
The federation said within the next two weeks, it will announce the holding of a special edition, a virtual race in November, open to all, which will "offer the opportunity to those who choose to participate, test their strength by running either individually or with friends or family members".