2500 YEARS MARATHON – European Athletics (EAA) – News – Lithuania’s Drazdauskaite takes the honours at the Athens Classic Marathon

It’s been a good year for Lithuanian women marathon runners with Zivile Balciunaite taking the gold medal at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and her compatriot Rasa Drazdauskaite followed in her footsteps by winning the Athens Classic Marathon in 2:31:06 on Sunday.

Drazdauskaite, 29 and a Master Sergeant in the Lithuanian Army, also won the concurrent World Military Championship title after taking off from the gun, in similar fashion to the way Balciunaite had won in Barcelona, and quickly shaking off her rivals.

This was the 2003 European Athletics Under 23 Championships 1500m silver medallist’s seventh marathon, after her debut in 2007, but undoubtedly her best.

Her best time of  2:30:29 came in Frankfurt just over a year ago but the course from Marathon to Athens relentlessly goes uphill for nearly 21km, and is reckoned to be the among the hardest of the world’s famous marathons – with the finish being in the Panethenaiko, the atmospheric marble stadium built for the 1896 Olympics in Athens.

Russia’s Olga Glok finished nearly three minutes behind Drazdauskaite to take second place in 2:33:51.

The temperature for the 0900 start was around 13 degrees Celsius but soon started to climb.

“The first 10km was very hot and I started to get very worried. But someone gave me a cap, and I was very thankful. I wanted to run Frankfurt again but the Army said I had to run here, and I’m very glad now. I thought I had a chance of winning but I’m so happy to win this special race, with all the history,” said the delighted Drazdauskaite, who finished 15th in the 2010 European Athletics Championships marathon, which was held exactly three months ago.

Kenya’s Raymond Bett won the men’s race in a course record of 2:12:40, taking two seconds off the time run by his compatriot Paul Lekuraa two years ago.

European Athletics (EAA) – News