‘We all can do it,’ says 88-year-old runner after completing 12th Athens Marathon

• Ploutarchos Pourliakas finishes iconic Greek race
• I've never smoked. I don't indulge in excesses'

At 88, Greek runner Ploutarchos Pourliakas has proved again that age can just be a number and poses no barrier to determination after he completed the 41st edition of the Athens Marathon on Sunday.

The race, also called The Authentic, is organised annually on what is believed to be the same ground that the Athenian messenger Phiedippides ran to bring the news of victory from the battlefield of Marathon 2,500 years ago. Recognised as the original marathon course, the same route was used in the 2004 Olympics held in Athens.