July 1st, 2018, saw the successful completion of the 7th edition of Salewa Olympus Mythical Trail, “The Human Race”. This is an event that leaves its footprint on the international map of trail running, as it follows the difficult, uphill path to the future. This year, Olympus, the usually capricious “mountain of the gods”, was lenient with the runners, although absolutely ideal weather conditions are impossible to achieve in this micro-climate.
On the afternoon of Friday, June 30th, 139 athletes set off from Aigiannis, outside Litochoro, full of enthusiasm and smiles. By the time they reached Livadaki (K-10), one trio of runners already stood out and gradually distanced itself from the pack. They were Antoine Guillon, Kris Morgan and Moisis Foltopoulos, who passed Prionia (K-18) in 2:31, with the rest of the runners already several minutes behind. At nightfall, and with the weather holding beautifully, the trio broke up, with Antoine Guillon pulling ahead. During the night, the French champion continued to increase his distance from the others; half-way through the race (Petrostrougka K-50), he was more than 45 minutes ahead of Kris Morgan, and 63 minutes ahead of Tomasz Baranow, who had climbed to 3rd place in the meantime. The strong winds prevailing higher up subsided during the night, and the dense fog covering the mountain above 2000 metres broke up, helping the athletes on their way. Unfortunately, several runners had already dropped out of the race at the main aid station at Stavros, affected by various problems. The night gave way to a calm, bright day, with the athletes remaining in the race spanning a distance of more than 30 kilometres, from the first to the last. Antoine Guillon continued to increase his advantage, crossing the finish line at Agiannis in the morning, with a time of 15:07:23 and with apparent ease! The competition for second place played out after the last aid station (Pigadi K-88), with Tomasz Baranow catching up to Kris Morgan; however, the Englishman was stronger and went on to win second place on the podium with a time of 16:47:36, with Baranow not far behind (16:51:41). A pleasant surprise during the race was the performance of 19-year-old Dalimil Hota from the Czech Republic, who came in 4th, with a time of 18:15:33. Moisis Foltopoulos came in 5th (18:16:28), followed by Robert Dudzik in 6th position (18:32:42). In the women’s race, Petra Mukova (21:15:40) from the Czech Republic had an easy win, with Alexandra Palkij (26:22:54) from Poland in 2nd place, and American Cassandra Turner (26:46:25) in 3rd. A total of 88 athletes were able to cross the finish line (64% of the starting number). Runners from 18 different countries participated in the event, and the average time of the finishers was 23 hours 53 minutes.
Once again, more than 150 volunteers, many of them runners who have completed OMT themselves, supported our athletes on every step of the way, even in the remotest parts of the mountain. This year too, the “Hellenic Rescue Team” was present to offer its valuable first aid services. The organizers would like to thank everyone who voluntarily offered their time and services to ensure that this difficult race would come to a successful conclusion. Finally, we would like to offer special thanks to the race’s name sponsor, Salewa, for supporting the organizers’ efforts to upgrade the event.
The 8th edition of Olympus Mythical Trail will take place on 29-30 June 2019. More details will follow soon.
View detailed 2018 race results here
The Organizing Committee
Litochoro, 9 July 2018
