The second Bible Marathon will take place on October 21, 2016, with runners following in the footsteps of the first marathon man who ran the 42k from the battlefield at Eben Ezer (modern day Rosh Ha’ayin) to Shiloh.
In the beginning of the Book of Samuel it is written “then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn”. The “man of Benjamin” runs from Eben Ezer to Ancient Shiloh to tell of the end of the war between the Israelites and the Philistines. The runner’s mission is to inform Eli, the priest of Israel, of the defeat in the war, the death of his sons and the capture of the Ark of the Covenant.
Many centuries later, after the Six Day War, the founder of the Maccabiah games, Yosef Yekutieli, set out to measure the length of the course from Rosh Ha'ayin to Shiloh, in the Benjamin region. He was amazed to find that the length of this historic path precisely matched that of the modern marathon – 42 kilometers (the official length of the Olympic running contest, determined in 1908 at the London Olympics).
It is in this unique atmosphere that the Bible Marathon renews history, in an athletic event that will include hundreds of runners from Israel and overseas. The runners travel the course of the Man of Benjamin, culminating in a huge, exciting EXPO event among the ruins and mosaics of ancient Shiloh.
Runners can choose from four options:
42 km full marathon– from Rosh Ha'ayin to Ancient Shiloh
21 km half marathon - from Rosh Ha’ayin to Ariel
15 km heat – start at Ariel University, finish at Ancient Shiloh
5 km popular run – around Ancient Shiloh