Hungarians Triumph at Spartathlon Race

Hungarian ultrarunners scored a double victory at the 37th Spartathlon, one of the most challenging long-distance races in Greece, winning both the men's and women's competition.

The overall winner, Tamás Bódis completed the distance in 23 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds. Another Hungarian, Zoltán Csécsei finished second. Coming in 8th in the overall race, Zsuzsanna Maráz successfully defended the women's title she won last year, by clocking 27 hours, 15 minutes and 12 seconds.

This most famous ultramarathon race - from the Acropolis in Athens to the statue of ancient Spartan King Leonidas in the center of Sparta in southern Greece - has been held since 1983 and Hungarians did well in the past, too. The first Hungarian victory was recorded in 1991 when János Bogár won the overall race while Szilvia Lubics won the women's race three times.