Under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organization & the Hellenic Swimming Federation PRESS RELEASE Absolute success for “Patmos Revelation” Hundreds of participants “embraced” the swimming & running races on the island of the Dodecanese Athens, July 3 2017 – The sports tourism event “Patmos Revelation”, was completed with absolute success in the sacred island of the Dodecanese, between June 30th and July 2nd 2017. Patmos Municipality, Region of South Aegean and Active Media cooperated with an excellent result which was evident from the participations and the positive comments of both participants and residents of the island. More than 200 professional and amateur athletes of all ages from 9 countries (Australia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and Greece) visited Patmos to live the experience of the event by swimming with absolute safety in the Aegean waters and by running in the unique routes, that passed through two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (historic center of Chora, Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian and Sacred Cave of the Apocalypse). The program of “Patmos Revelation” started with Kids’ Athletics (30/06) by the Olympic and World Champion, Periklis Iakovakis at the football stadium of Patmos with the participation of children who learned many of the secrets of track and field sports. The activity has been developed and established by a special panel of scientists from IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) and is officially implemented in Greece by the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. On the second day of the event, on Saturday (1/7), the open water swimming race was held at Grikos bay (distance of the 1 mile/1.6km). The route was designed by the Federal Technical Coach of Swimming Nikos Gemelos while the safety of athletes was taken care of by Katerini’s Lifeguard School, Lifeguard Patrol. The swimming race was held under the auspices of the Hellenic Swimming Federation with the presence of the Greek national open water swimming team, headed by the European champion, Antonis Fokaidis. Right before the start of the race a warm-up was held by the pilates instructor, Mandy Persaki. During the 3rd day, on Sunday (2/7), running races of 15km, 5km and 1km (for children) were held having Skala as the starting point. All routes were designed and edited by the top director of All About Running, Nikos Polias. The 15km running route was characterized with similar difficulty level to a marathon race by experts and experienced participant runners. Michalis Chatziioannou was the winner of the 15km route with a 01:01:34 time (who was also the winner of the Rhodes marathon race). You may see the total results of the 15km and 5km running routes from the following link: http://www.myrace.gr/event/135/results.html 1 Participant athletes and escorts travelled in the “sacred” island of the Dodecanese with the safety and comfort of the top Greek shipping company Blue Star Ferries, that facilitated the audience with additional ferry routes and discounts. Vikos company supported as a sponsor all children activities and quenched the thirst of both participants and the audience with the natural mineral water “Vikos” that contributes to the good functioning of the body during sports. Official supporter of Patmos Revelation, was the 5-star hotel Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa, of the Divine Hotels group, in which an event was held with the presence of media, ambassadors and representatives from the Holy Monastery and Patmos Municipality. Commemorative gifts were offered by Archimandrite Father Vartholomaios to the Federal Technical Director in Swimming, Nikos Gemelos, by the Mayor of Patmos, Grigoris Stoikos, to the World Champion Periklis Iakovakis and by Patmos Municipality Head of Tourism & Sports Giannis Skebes to the European Swimming Champion of open water swimming, Antonis Fokaidis. AB Vassilopoulos supermarket chain supported “Patmos Revelation” by offering products to participants and volunteers. Another great shipping company, Dodekanisos Seaways, standed next to the event. With routes from and to Leros, Kalymnos and Samos, the company enhanced the tourist traffic of the island of Patmos with special discounts. At the same time, the event was supported by Sixt rent a car, which covered the event and all visitors’ car rental needs with its fleet, while throughout the whole event vehicles moved with the excellent quality of ELIN fuel! The event was supported by the following hospitality sponsors: Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa, Allotina Houses, Skala Hotel Patmos, Onar, Chris Hotel, Archontariki, Alykes Studios, Porto Scoutari, Stefanos Katsaros Studios, Hotel Athina, Hotel Rodon, Villa Zacharo, Grikos Hotel, Hotel Effie, while the audience was served by the official travel agent VitaNTravel. Patmos Police Station, Patmos Port Authority, Patmos Health Center as well as the Volunteers, Rescuers and Lifeguards Corps of Hellenic Red Cross Kos helped in the smooth implementation of the races. The event was held under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organization. Official Sponsors: Blue Star Ferries, “Vikos” natural mineral water Official Supporters: Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa, Sixt rent a car, AB Vassilopoulos, Elin, Dodekanisos Seaways, 1001 flights Assisted by: SEGAS, IAAF Kids Athletics, GoPro, T & G auto moto rentals, A1 yacht trade consortium, Lifeguard Patrol, Giannaros Theologos Hospitality Sponsors: Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa, Allotina Houses, Skala Hotel Patmos, Onar, Chris Hotel, Archontariki, Alykes Studios, Porto Scoutari, Stefanos Katsaros Studios, Hotel Athina, Hotel Rodon, Villa Zacharo, Grikos Hotel, Hotel Effie Official Travel Agent: VitaNTravel Strategic TV Partner: National Geographic 2 Under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organization Under the auspices of the Hellenic Swimming Federation 3 Website: www.patmos-revelation.gr Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/patmosrevelation Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/PatmosRevel Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/patmosrevelation/ Hashtag: #patmosrevelation Information for the editors: Press Office Contact: Tel.: +30 210 9343020, fax: +30 210 9316505 e-mail: [email protected] 4 .