YIANNIS KOUROS...
        "The legend of Ultra-Distance Running"

He is known as the "Running God", "Golden Greek", "Pheidippides Successor", "World Record Breaker", "Unstoppable", and as the "Master of Pain". He is undefeated in any continuous world-class ultra-marathon competition beyond 100 miles. He holds every record from 100 miles to 1,000 miles, from 200 km to 1,600 km, and from 1 day to 10 days. Many of his fans have dedicated poems to him and hundreds of legendary stories have been told about his achievements. Ultra-running is not an Olympic event yet and does not get enough recognition from athletic bodies and journalists for being the athletic pinnacle that it is, but Yiannis Kouros forgives these people, "because they do not know the greatness of our sport". (Colac, Vic. Australia, Dec. 2, 1984)

Latest News & Results.

New World Record with 422.630km in 48h (Gols, Austria).
In the 48 hour race that took place in Gols,  Austria, between the 2nd and 4th of May, 2008, Yiannis Kouros set a  new World Record, covering 422.630km. This performance receives extra value as it was achieved in the third back to back race of Yiannis in a period of about a month (Brno, Czech Republic, Indoor 48 h, 408.10km, Ciserano, IT, road 24h, 261,054km), from which he had not recovered yet. But, Yiannis, once again, succeeded in surpassing these earthy obstacles, ignoring his body condition in order to meet his goal, covering 422.630km, a performance that is a new Road World Record in repeated cyclical course of 1000 meters. His previous record of this kind of road racing was 413km, done in the Across The Years race (Arizona, 29-31/12/05). His track 48h W.R. is 473.797km (Surgeres, FR, 1996) and his point to point W.R. is 463km, done as a split in the hilly Sydney to Melbourne race. The Mayor of the town of Gols and the Austrian organisers gave order to ring the bells of their church as Yiannis Kouros was approaching the World Record to express their gratitude for his effort to bring a W.R. in their little town and make it known in the map of the records. Yiannis Kouros dedicated his record to his friends who crewed for him in the races of this year, improving his conditions and developing inner confidence. Before travelling to Austria, Yiannis heard about the loss of Marios Tokas, the Greek-Cypriot composer, who passed away just before the orthodox Easter. In his memory, Yiannis dedicated his effort, as Marios Tokas was one of the few that gives inspiration with his songs.

Course record & victorious again with 261.054km in Italy.
Yiannis Kouros was invited as a guest runner in the National 6, 12 & 24 hr Championships of Italy, that took place in Ciserano, near Bergamo, during 19-20/04/08. He won the 24h division, improving the course record from 241km to 261.054km. The surface of the course was very difficult to keep a good pace, as it had many sharp corners with opposite inclination, parts with gravel road, some very narrow passes and the asphalt was not even. The fact that many participants (of the 6, 12 & 24 h) were competing in the same narrow course affected his performance and did not allow him to cover a much longer distance.

Yiannis Kouros breaks world records in 200m (33:10:08) and age group world records (408.01km) in 48 hours indoor event.
Yiannis Kouros added a new victory to the list of his Ultra races. He won the indoor 48-hour race in Brno, Czech Republic, held from 28 to 30/03/08. He covered 408.010km, which is a new age group record. Beyond 200m, which is an overall Indoor World Record (33:10:08), he achieved some more World Best performances: 250km (24:35:35), 300km (30:33:59), 350km (37:15:43). En route he broke several other age group records, like the 24h split (246.542km), 100km (8:39:59), 150km (13:35:59), 100m (14:36:11), 200km (18:56:02), 150m (23:16:20), 250km (24:35:35), 300km (30:33:59), 200m (33:10:08), 350km (37:15:43) and 400km (46:22:53). [Other splits:50km (04:12:20), 50m (06:52:25), 6h (70.500km), 12h (134.250km)]. These performances were achieved by Yiannis under the effect of suffering from flu, which had started before the race and became worse during the run. In addition, the hard concrete surface affected his legs, leading to shin-splints. He was actually running much faster than it seems from his hourly splits, due to the fact that some competitors kept the inner lane by walking from the start, so he had to cover extra distance by running in the outside lanes and did many zigzags, which eventually created blisters and he had to stop to treat them. These facts distracted him from his goal to achieve a much higher world record and thus disappointed him.

Motivational Talks.
For a number of years, especially since 1984, Yiannis Kouros has been involved in giving motivation talks to inspire people to be more active and runners to improve their running results.
Some of these talks were addressed to running clubs in Athens, Greece (1984-89), to the School of Philosophy (University of Athens), to the Sports Academy of Athens (1990) and then in Australia, especially before the Sydney Olympics. After 2000 he spoke to running clubs of Athens, Piraeus and Serres (Greece) and Colorado (USA, Dec.2005). The day before the Athens Marathon (Nov.2006) he spoke to International Business people, who also run. In Sept. 2007 he repeated that to International Business people, but not runners. Recently (Feb. 16 & Mar. 1) Yiannis gave motivation talks to members of companies who had their annual meeting.