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The 1896 Classic Marathon Race Revival III
Posted by
@morethanlife
Posted by
@morethanlife
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
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Hi this is Kostas from Greece/Athens and i find it on point to post this event here on your community of my close friend Agi here, so:
I would like to invite you to this historic event that will take place in Athens this May 7th.
The 1896 CMRR is a race replicating the first fixed gear race that took place in the first modern Olympics in Athens year 1896.
This time events will be scattered around Athens for the whole weekend.
Expect:
Street track bike racing,
post race party,
ride to beach/swim/sunbathe,
hungover lunch at taverna,
lots of prizes....
video of last race:
https://vimeo.com/96129778#at=0
facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/430333810499751/
historical background:
At the first Modern Olympic Games the sport of cycling was introduced. There were several track cycling events held at the Phaliron Velodrome (Stadio Karaiskaki) and one road cycling event. At that time the “bicycle” was quite a novice idea people were not familiar with. Gears, brakes and deralleurs were not yet invented and all bicycles were fixed gear and brakeless.
The only road race of the Games took place on April 12. It was 87 kilometres long, with contestants cycling to the village of Marathon and back. Five Greeks registered for the race, one of them Aristides Konstantinides, and a few foreign cyclists including the German August von Gödrich and the Briton Edward Battel. Konstantinidis was one of the first bicycle enthusiasts in the country and a member of the first Greek cycling club.
He won the road race, covering the 87 kilometres from Athens to Marathon and back in a time of 3:22:31 despite his bicycle breaking down on the way back to Athens. Legend has it that he borrowed a bicycle from a spectator to finish the race.
Konstantinidis led from the start until his first fall that allowed Battel to briefly pass in front of him. Both Konstantinidis and Battel fell again before finishing, with Battel’s fall being severe enough to drop him from first place to third as both Konstantinidis and Gödrich passed him. Konstantinides entered the city battered and bleeding but trioumphant giving Greece one of its most glorified gold medals as groups of bystanders cheered him on his way to the finish line.
All the best