73 years ago on 20th April 1946 Stelios Kyriakides the legendary Cypriot Marathon runner won the Boston Marathon, with the aim of raising money to provide food and shelter to the Greeks, who were experiencing severe poverty after the Second World War and Greek Civil War. When he returned to Greece, he arrived with 25,000 tons of supplies in American aid, including $250,000 in cash. Over one million Greeks from all over the country lined the streets of Athens to greet him.
Stelios Kyriakides was born in the mountain village of Statos, near Pafos, Cyprus on May 4, 1910. He competed for Greece in the 1936 Summer Olympics, placing eleventh. In 1948, Kyriakides finished eighteenth in the Olympic marathon at the London Games. He died in Athens on the 10th December 1987.The biggest stadium in Pafos was renamed (10th December 2017 – 30 years after his death) after his name ‘Stelios Kyriakides’ Stadium.
The local Marathon in Pafos ‘Logicom Cyprus Marathon’ organised every March is run in honour of Stelios Kyriakides.
You can find out more about the Logicom Cyprus Marathon on their website on the following link:
