The world running organisation the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) are proud to announce the opening of permanent headquarters for AIMS in offices within the Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece - the spiritual birthplace of distance running.

The Minister of Culture and Tourism of Greece, Pavlos Yeroulanos, and the President of AIMS, Paco Borao, opened the new offices recently in Avenue Louis Spyros - an address which appropriately bears the name of the first Olympic Marathon winner.

The world Marathon movement last year celebrated the 2500th anniversary of the Marathon Battle (490 BC) and the legend of Pheidippides the Greek soldier-runner who ran from the village of Marathon to Athens bearing the message of victory to the Athenians. This legend provided the impetus for the establishment of the Marathon as an event during the first Modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896.

AIMS President Paco Borao comments: "The main purpose of why we are here today is to promote running in general and especially the marathon race. I would like to thank the hundreds of AIMS members and the millions of runners around the world that I am proud to represent here today; our sponsors for the trust they have in the running movement and our Association as the world entity representing them; the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism for giving us this great opportunity to establish our headquarters here in Athens - where better than where both the legend and the first marathon race originated?; and to the people at the Hellenic Athletic Federation and the Athens Classic Marathon organising committee who have done so much to realise this achievement.

"This alliance will help to bring people to Athens, and to the whole of Greece. They will be sporting visitors who deeply believe in such values as goodwill, friendship and solidarity with the intention of visiting the birthplace of the event that has had such an impact on their lives - the Marathon. We, AIMS, are here because we also believe in these values and we believe in the capacity of the country to continue to fulfil them. We will do our utmost to make this agreement a success for us both."

AIMS is the world body for marathons and distance races and has over 310 member races across 95 different countries around the world. For background information please see www.aimsworldrunning.org