The Peloponnesian Challenge
Channel: ARCAS Travel Services
Date: 2020-06-21

Travel with us on a journey all around Peloponnese and meet the beauty of Greece through a race between an F-18 catamaran and a group of cyclists. 

Interested in cycling or sailing in Greece for leisure? Contact us here: 
info@arcastravel.com / www.arcastravel.com


In 2015 Arcas Travel Services based in Greece, in cooperation with the Peloponnese Tourism Organization, organized an improvised race for the touristic promotion of the area. 

The project:
A team of sailors will compete against a team of cyclists all around the Peloponnese.The idea was born between two friends: Christos Panagiotopoulos, CEO of Arcas Travel Services and Discover-Peloponnese.com, based in Greece and Ali McLean, CEO of Artisan Travel Company based in UK. Christos, an avid catamaran sailor wanted to sail around his homeland, Peloponnese, and Ali always had in mind to cycle around, as 30 years ago he had cycled from UK to Greece but missed Peloponnese.

Start and finish was Ancient Olympia, and Katakolo, the port of Olympia for the sailors. There were only two rules. Both teams should follow the coastline and race only during daylight.

The teams:
Team Discover-Peloponnese.com is from Greece and is racing with an F-18 catamaran and has 2 members. Christos Panagiotopoulos and his close friend Greek-Canadian Kostas Bazos, also a very experienced catamaran sailor. On the last day Kostas had to resign due to a family issue and Panagiotis Pantazis, also from Greece, replaced him.

Team Artisan has 6 members: Ali McLean, Charlie Ryan, Rob Cambell, Steve Self, Graeme Self and Daniel Marcal. All participants are from UK and are very experienced bikers, although Ali and Rob are not in their prime age.

The race:
Both teams started on the 11th of September 2015 and headed north. The sailors had to face the different challenges such as no wind or storm, waves and the 12h per day onboard, when the cyclists' biggest challenge was the heat and the long uphill parts in specific routes.

A 36 footer sailing catamaran was staying close as much as spossible  to the sailors to provide support and safety, and a van was the escort of the cyclists carrying supplies and repair equipment.

Passing by Aigio, Diakofto, Corinth Canal, Poros, Epidavros, Porto Heli, Spetses, Hydra, Nafplio, Astros, Leonidio, Monemvassia, Elafonissos,Gytheio, Mani, Kalamata, Koroni, Methoni, Pylos, Finikounda, and Kyparissia both teams managed to finish after 10 days of really hard work and not intact.