Around 1970, inspired by mountain running in the Alps, the first thoughts of a marathon in Olympus came on. Younger members of the Mountaineering Association E.O.S. Thessaloniki implemented the idea; a running track was selected, the paths were cleaned and marked. The first run took place on July 6, 1986. Around 100 Greek runners participated; although starting numbers have been assigned, there are no statistics on the results of this first Olympus Marathon. The new sport was called Mountaineer Marathon, not only on the Olympus region, but in the whole of Greece, where gradually hill running established. In the first years the number of participants varied greatly, only through the outdoor movement found more Greek athletes to this sport.