Runners from 75 countries in Limassol marathon

Over 17,000 people from 75 countries took part in a series of events in the Limassol Opap marathon over the weekend, with runs concluding at lunchtime on Sunday.

Such events put Cyprus on the world map, deputy minister of tourism Costas Koumis said.

“For us it is an extremely important event,” Koumis added. “All sports events organised in our country either during the summer or the rest of the months are very beneficial and we are very pleased to see such events grow every year”.

Four races took place on Sunday, the 42km Marathon, the Muskita 21km Half Marathon, the Petrolina Energy Race 10km. and the RemAthlon Individual Race 5km.

In total, more than 17,000 runners ran over the six routes of the weekend, 3,000 of whom came from abroad (double the number last year).

Israel’s Yossi Gross finished first in the OPAP Men’s Marathon with a time of 02:46:04, followed by his compatriot Yossi Geta (02:49:13) and Cypriot Nicholas Georgiou (02:50:58). Sophie Roussard from France finished first in the OPAP Women’s Marathon with a time of 03:29:50, followed by Ioanna Tsokkou from Cyprus (03:30:19) and Karolina Borowski from Poland (03:31:07).