Kenya’s Hillary Kipkogei Yego won the 31st Athens classic marathon on Sunday in a time of two hours, 13 minutes and 59 seconds.

The 33-year-old Yego was followed across the finish line by three of his countrymen.

Dickson Kimeli came in second in 2:14.40, followed by David Kipkorir Rutoh (2:14.47) and Paul Kibet Kosgei (2:16.58).

“It was the first time that I participated in the Athens classic marathon. I am very happy that I managed to achieve my personal best time. The weather conditions were very good,” Yego said.

The women’s race was won by another Kenyan, 26-year-old Nancy Joan Rotich, in a time of 2:41.38. She finished 19th overall.

Some 17,000 runners from 102 countries took part in the classic marathon which began just a short distance from the tumulus erected for the Greek dead of the battle of Marathon and finishing at the all-marble Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.

According to legend, the 42km distance from Marathon to Athens was first run by Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger who, in 490 BC, dashed to the democratic city states of Athens and Platea to announce Athens’ victory over Persian empire soldiers, before dying of exhaustion.