ROUTE OF TRUCE 2025 – for 10th consecutive year!
Registrations are not open yet.
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At the place where the Olympic Games were born, the holy land of Ilida and Olympia, where every four years, the ancient Greeks united to honor their gods, the Federation of Olympia organizes the “Route of Truce”. The route that leads from Ilida to Olympia. The route that leads from Truce to Peace. In their passage and through the happy faces of the people, the runners-messengers of the Truce, experience the hospitality of Xenios Zeus which reaches the present day from the depths of the ages, by bringing together the ancient and the modern. Today’s inhabitants, descendants of ancient Elis, welcome the runners and walkers with a glass of cool water from the springs of their land, with traditional products, fruit, raisins, dairy, wines, juices, nuts, whatever each of them can dispose… Fruits from the land of Elis, are generously offered to the contemporary messengers of the Truce.
In this sacred place, a top event took place in April 2016 for the first time since the end of the Ancient Games. The first route dedicated to the Truce: “The Route of the Olympic Truce 2016”.
In the place where the athletes used to leave their arms in order to compete, where everyone arrived to fight the “good” fight, having walked their own route of truce from their place to Ilida, where they handed over their weapons and then continued their journey unarmed, they used to participate in the games of sportsmanship, and at the same time send a unique message, this is where the Truce was born as a prerequisite for their participation in the Games. A message not only to the then known world, but a message that travels through history and reaches modern times, thus becoming more up-to-date than ever. The message of the Truce. The Truce that leads to peace!
It took 1623 years to reunite Ilida and Olympia with this unique event: The first route dedicated to the Truce.
The Route of Truce that connects Ilida (the host city of the Olympic Games) with Olympia (the sacred site where the Olympic Games were held) is not paved with roses. It goes uphill, it goes downhill, it’s long and difficult… just like truce. But all of us athletes, military, ordinary citizens holding an olive branch, have run and will run again on April 22, 2018 these 50 kilometres to carry and spread the message of Truce around the world.
From the sacred land of Elis where the Olympic Games began, we, with our minor forces, have opened the way for our own little truce. The little truce that begins from each of us, from our home, our yard, our neighbourhood, our city, to bring the great Truce to the world. The truce that, in this difficult times for mankind, we are in desperate need of.
The road is long and difficult. But all together holding an olive branch from the sacred land of Olympia, giving our fight, we will unite our forces and become the messengers of Truce and Peace.
The Truce should not be just a temporary cessation of hostilities that some use as an opportunity to get re-armed, but an opportunity for dialogue, an opportunity for agreement, an opportunity and a breath of life for the prevalence of peace.
The Truce is the most important step in continuing the dialogue, and through this dialogue, the reconciliation between nations. So let the truce be the example for friendship, mutual understanding, tolerance, acceptance of diversity and acknowledgement of the supreme value of peace. Every meter from the approximately 49.8 km from Ancient Ilida to Ancient Olympia will bring us every time a little closer to the goal of spreading the message of Truce everywhere, all over the world! Let every runner be a messenger of this important message for Peace! Peace, which even today is unfortunately still something to hope and fight for instead of a undisputed acquis.
In the “Route of Truce” as well as in the first “Route of Olympic Truce” all who manage to finish will be awarded, because the importance lies with the route and the journey to Truce. For the defeat will be to fail to reach the end, which is the truce itself and the final destination which is Peace.
We are waiting for you to make our own “Route of Truce” all together!
Our goal is that every meter of the approximately 50.000, from Ancient Ilida to Ancient Olympia, brings us closer to carrying the message of the Truce everywhere, throughout the world! And every runner to become a messenger of this important message for Peace!
The goal of the event is for the athletes to run for Truce and manage to finish running on dirt road, asphalt, uphill and downhill.
Not just for the unique, collectible, well-designed medal.
Not only for the hug of the relative who will be waiting for us at the finish line, nor for the applause of the people who will accompany the athletes all the way.
But because through The Route of Truce that the athletes will pass, they will lead to something unique:
- To pave the way to truce and peace, aiming at the reconciliation of peoples, the defense of freedom of speech and democracy in an equal and privileged society!
- In the promotion of the ideals that gave birth to Hellenism, which was and must be the vehicle for the promotion and dissemination of the sacred truce – since peace as an ideal is not a brand name, but a purpose of life.
- In the development and promotion of the fire-ravaged semi-mountainous area of Elis.
Sport, as part of the larger concept of culture, is key to promoting the idea of peace and truce.
We are waiting for you to make our own “Truce Road” together!
As the great Greek long-distance runner Yiannis Kouros, who led the first “Route of Olympic Truce” in 2016 (but also the Route of Truce in 2022), tells us: “…our goal is to enable uniformed, sportsmen and ordinary citizens to enjoy the uniqueness of the specific path, to cross a path in the same footsteps of the ancient hoplite athletes, as a ritual of purification and respect for peace, but also at the same time coexistence with fellow human beings of different ideologies, beliefs, and traditions. As in ancient times, so today, participants and visitors should feel safe and calm, so that they can indulge undisturbed in the sanctity of the effort or viewing.”
There will be buses for the better movement of the runners. More details within the registration form.
The distances between the villages and the arrival times are detailed in the table below:
The Run
This run is not competitive. It starts from the entrance of the old museum in Ancient Ilida and through The Route of Truce continues towards the villages of Dafni, Keramidia, Dafniotissa, Peristeri, Chimadio, Sopi, Karatoulas, Magoula, Latzoi, Iraklia, Pournari, Pelopio, Platanos and ends in the square opposite the town hall of Ancient Olympia.
Contour map
For more technical characteristics about the route click here. or you can visit the section “The Route”, subsection “The Route of Truce”.
During the route there will be stations in all the villages where water, juices and snacks will be distributed. There will be a station in the middle of the route from Peristeri to Chimadio.