On 4 April 2009 AIMS decided that the 18th World Congress of AIMS will hold in Athens on 28-30 October 2010, on the occasion of the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon. The Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) and the Organizing Committee of the 18th World Congress of AIMS will be welcoming race organizers from all around the world to the birthplace of the Marathon legend, honouring the Marathon Movement and its history.
AIMS holds a World Congress open to all members, on average every two years. In order to allow all members the possibility of hosting any Congress the interval between Congresses can be anything from 18 months to 30 months.
The Establishing Congress was held in London in 1982, but was little more than a private meeting among those marathon organisers who had been instrumental in forming the Association (only formalised at that meeting). After that, the first open Congress of AIMS was held in Tokyo in January 1983, and since then 16 more AIMS World Congresses have been held, the latest of which was the 17th World Congress held on 2-4 April 2009 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
At that Congress Athens was voted as the venue for the 18th World Congress of AIMS, to be held on 28-29 October 2010, followed on 30 October by the 4th AIMS-IAAF Marathon Symposium. The normal format for the World Congress is two days of presentations and seminars followed by a specific business day. In Athens there will be a day of seminars followed by the business day and then, the AIMS-IAAF Symposium. Breaks are scheduled within both the seminar and business programme to allow for informal discussion among members, and there is a social programme run in parallel with the scheduled sessions.
