Quantum Nicosia Marathon

06 Jun 2011

Nicosia gets ready for 2nd Quantum Nicosia Marathon in October

NICOSIA, June 06, 2011 – Preparations are already underway as Nicosia gears up to organise the Second Quantum Nicosia Marathon on October 9 with the organizers differentiating the various routs in order to meet the international marathon standards. The event will be included in the official AIMS calendar.

According to organisers, this year’s marathon aims to send the message that the island’s capital “is the friendliest in the world”.

Last year’s event saw 5,000 runners take part and organisers are confident that they will be able to exceed that number come October.

“The roads of Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe, will have a different look. They will be flooded with people in celebration of sport and all taking part in this peaceful event”, commented Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou.

Marathon runner Nasos Ktorides, who is also head of the Athanasios Ktorides Foundation – one of the main event sponsors, spoke about what he felt was “a valuable and timeless marathon message”.

“It (marathon running) inspires us to believe in ourselves, to dream of reaching challenging and beautiful targets, to test our agility and honour but to also channel all our passion into achieving goals even those that we feel have exhausted all our strength”, he added.

This year’s event will see the introduction, for the first time, of chip timing systems for all the routes, with exception of the charity 1000m run, as well as the conveying of the flame from Marathon in Greece to Nicosia by former Finance Minister Michalis Sarris.

This year’s marathon, which will start at Famagusta Gate, will feature five different distances:

– The main 42 km Marathon route
– The 21 km half-Marathon route
– The 10 km route,
– A 5 km circuit
– A charity run of 1000 metres.

Last year around 5000 people took part in the half-marathon and 1000 meter charity events with Costas Poulios taking first place in the half-marathon event.

All proceeds from this year’s event will go to various charity organisations including “The Dear Friends’ society, “Make a Wish”, the Cyprus Anti Cancer Association, the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and the Cyprus Association of Heart Patients.

For more information, visit the official website at nicosiamarathon.com as well as the Facebook page or call 22792200.