The 32nd Classical Marathon Race took place this morning November 9, in Athens, Greece. Kenyan marathon runner Felix Kandie, was the big winner of this year’s race, covering 42 kilometers — from Marathon to the Panathinaic Stadium (downtown Athens) — in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 36 seconds! This is a new record time for the Marathon Race, beating the record time of Italian marathon runner Stefano Baldini, who had covered the 42 kilometer race in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 55 seconds in 2004. Baldini had won a gold medal for his achievement at the marathon race during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In second place at today’s 32nd Classic Marathon Race was Raymond Bett, also a marathon runner from Kenya. In third came another Kenyan runner, Ashwini K. Choubey. More than 35 thousand runners participated in today’s race, with a record number of foreign participants. Greek runner Christoforos Merousis, was the first Greek to pass the finish line after 2 hours, 25 minutes and 14 seconds. The 5 km Marathon race that began a little after 8 a.m. this morning, was the most popular race, starting from Amalias Avenue and passing through many main streets of Athens. This race was joined by almost 9 thousand participants, among of which participated many Greek celebrities. The remaining two races, the 10 km race and the 42 km race began at 9 a.m. this morning. The race is expected to be completed around 6 p.m. this afternoon. In the meantime, many streets in the city center and along the way extending from Marathon to Athens will also remain closed.