Story · Ride
Athens to Sparta
246 km
Pheidippides' run to ask Sparta for help.
246 km. Athens to Sparta.
- It stands on
- 200 km
What it takes
Before you go.
- Recommended first
- The 200 km ride
- Long ride
- About 5 hours 45 minutes, 4 times in the last 10 weeks, at least once in the last 5 weeks
- Weekly training
- About 8½ hours on average over 6 weeks, with an hour of running or swimming counting as 30 minutes
- Riding itself
- At least 7½ hours a week
- Taper
- An easier week before the event week
The story
Herodotus says Pheidippides reached Sparta the day after leaving Athens. The Spartathlon has run it since 1983. Source: Herodotus 6.105.
The ladder
- 10 mile/
- 20 km/
- 30 km/
- 40 km/
- 50 km/
- 80 km/
- 90 km/
- 100 km/
- 120 km/
- Century/
- 180 km/
- 200 km/
- Athens to Sparta