The preparations for the third annual Santorini Experience, which will take place on 6-8 October 2017 on the Greek island of Santorini, are coming to a head. Positioned as Greece’s biggest tourist sporting event, the Santorini Experience is getting ready to open up to professional and amateur athletes, challenging them to try out their running and swimming skills in some stunning scenery.
Santorini Experience is a collaboration between the Municipality of Thira of the Municipal Sports Cultural Environmental Organization of Santorini (D.A.P.P.O.S.) and Active Media Group.
As in previous years, the event’s key USP is largely based on the ‘magnificent routes that the athletes will follow’. The course that the runners will take goes through villages, such as Imerovigli, Firostefani and Oia, with its ‘breath-taking view of the Caldera’. Santorini is formed of a large caldera (volcanic crater), located in the southern Aegean Sea, around 120 kilometres north of Crete in Greece.
For those who choose to take part in the swimming event, the starting point of the race will be the volcano. Athletes will then finish at the old port in Fira, thus giving an opportunity to swim through Santorini’s black waters.
The Mayor of Thira, Anastasios Nikolaos Zorzos said “It is with great pleasure that we welcome the third Santorini Experience, on our island. Another unique life experience filled with energy and volcanic aura. The event has been established, becoming a tradition, while the partaking of the locals, as well as the visitors, each year, proves this more than anything else.
“Santorini, which is a tourist destination throughout the year, offers alternative experiences and the Santorini Experience is no exception. We continue this effort, we support and participate actively, so that our island can continue being a tourist favourite.”
The President of D.A.P.P.O.S., the local cultural organisation, Eleftherios Tzouros, added, “We are waiting for you to visit us at the third Santorini Experience, which will take place between 6-8 October. A unique sporting event that has, from day one, with the participation of athletes from all over the world, shown us that it has the potential to become a global sporting event.
“The Santorini Experience is considered a tradition, but we choose to evolve it and it is of outmost importance that every year we try to improve the organisation. We include innovation and safety measures above all. We are waiting for you on October 6th-8th on our island!”
Information regarding the opening of registrations, the activities schedule and the packages of hosting sponsors will be announced in following weeks.
