A very interesting discussion with him Marathon Babi Semertzidis who continues to exercise every day for 42 years. We will talk about the evolution of the running movement, the Giannitsa Marathon Team of which he was the founding president, but also many other interesting things about his great love for running.
My guest today is marathon runner Babis Semertzidis. Mr. Semertzidis is a businessman, has been a club athlete competing in marathon distances and has been actively exercising every day for 42 years. He is the founding president of the Giannitsson Marathon Team and participated for a number of years in the administration of the Association of Greek Veteran Athletics Athletes in Thessaloniki. He has participated in the first years of operation in the organizing committees alongside executive responsibility for the sectors assigned to him for the organization of the Alexander the Great International Marathon and the Thessaloniki Night Half Marathon, while he had the main responsibility for the planning, organization and execution of the redesigned Thysias Giannitsson Road event. He was also a member of the OLYMPUS MARATHON organizing committee continuously until 2013 with organizational and executive duties.
Highlights of the interview at Podcasts “It's a long road” with Marathon runner Babis Semertzidis.
3:00 – What is running to you?
4:05 – Is running a form of psychotherapy?
4:30 – Although running is a solitary sport, do sociability and running go together?
5:30 – Tell us a few things about perhaps the most well-known group of Marathon runners both in Northern Greece and throughout Greece, the Giannitsa Marathon Team.
09:20 – Greece, like the whole planet, is going through a very big crisis, like that of the pandemic. Can running be a protective shield for a person's mental and physical health?
13:20 – What is your role in the consolidation and establishment of the "Alexander the Great" International Marathon?
16:07 – Organizationally, how difficult is it to set up such matches? How much coordination does it require?
17:10 – How important is the holding of sports events for a region?
18:32 – Babi, something else I found out is that here in Northern Greece, compared to the South, we don't have any long-distance races at all. In Southern Greece there are so many successful competitions that have been embraced by the local bodies, but there are no similar efforts here. In the footsteps of heroes, O Hehidas, The Road of Heroes, Aethlios: Ancient Nemea Levidi and the others! I read in the book you published about the history of the Giannitsa Marathon Team that one of your goals is to organize a Pella-Vergina-Dion 100km ultramarathon. How close are you to it?
21:48 – How do you see the street movement in your city and in Greece by extension?
25:20 – Training, family, work, great performances, how do they all fit together in 24 hours?
27:56 – Do you remember your first fight?
29:54 – Is there a match that you have singled out and loved the most?
33:48 – Nutrition and sleep. What is their role and how do these two affect you?
34:30 – What advice would you give to an aspiring Marathoner?
35:20 – Did your involvement in sports give or take away from you?
35:45 – Are you still training? If so, how often and for how long?