SEGAS’ Backing Keeps International Marathon Association (AIMS) HQ in Athens

Photo source: SEGAS

Photo source: SEGAS

The Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association (SEGAS) said on Wednesday that it had decided to sponsor the Association of International Marathon and Distance Races (AIMS) in order for it to retain its headquarters in Athens for the following six years.

“For the next six years, SEGAS will lend AIMS its financial backing so that its headquarters remain in Athens, and we continue our efforts to promote the country abroad,” SEGAS president Kostas Panagopoulos said.

“It goes without saying that SEGAS will benefit from this collaboration,” he added.

“For AIMS and its 380-plus members, there would be no other place better than Athens from Spyros Louis Avenue to continue our operations. The Marathon race is a unique athletic event based on a legend that gave birth to the Marathon race as a sport, and was revived in the first Athens’ Olympics and continues to this day with the organization of the Original Athens Marathon,” AIMS president Paco Brao said.

“It therefore follows that AIMS, having as its main goal to spread the marathon movement worldwide, should have its central office in Athens,” Brao added, expressing his gratitude to SEGAS for sharing common visions and goals.

AIMS was established in May 1982 in London, with the aim to promote road running throughout the world, work with international associations and athletic federations and exchange information, knowledge and expertise. In 2011, AIMS set up their headquarters in Athens, at the OAKA Olympic Outdoor Aquatics Center on Spyros Louis Avenue.