AGOGE - GREECE
- Nicole Bowman
- Nov 6, 2025
- 13 min read
Updated: Apr 4
This wasn't a vacation - it was a challenge.
Epic climbs. Terrifying terrain. Beautiful views.
Oct 29 - Nov 6, 2025
Another loosely planned adventure that started out as me going to Greece solo when I lucked out with a lottery selection for the 2025 Spartan Agoge event. Spartan Agoge had finally returned having held its last event in 2019.
The interest for the 2025 Agoge event was high and the format sounded exciting - Agoge: 300 March - a 115KM March through the legendary landscape of Sparta, Greece.
All registrants from a lottery system were pooled and the first 300 were offered a spot and had to confirm by paying the registration fee within 24hrs. I was not in this first 300…damn…missed opportunity.
Thankfully, some folks did not pay, and I got a notification during the second round - YOU ARE IN! Excellent! It was January 2025, and I now had to wait 10 months for this epic challenge.
A lot happened in these 10 months.
Training heightened, of course, and several other Spartan Races and Hyrox events took place, but importantly, I fell in love with Nicole.
Now that we were a couple and knocking down events and adventures together, and with the Spartan Agoge quickly looming on the horizon...
I could not imagine Nicole going to a Spartan event and not participating.
It started out as, “Hey, want to go on a trip to Greece with me?” and quickly evolved into - YOU ARE IN! because around the September time frame, Spartan released more tickets from some of the returned slots to the market and I pounced.
To our surprise, Nicole got in!
We were doing this dream event together, against pretty long odds. Fantastic!
From there, October 29th came fast.
This was Nicole’s first trip off the continent.
Exciting!
I was happy to be there for her maiden voyage across the Atlantic.
We landed in Athens and headed to the luggage carousel where we met up with our fellow Canadian Agoge Warriors - Todd & Michel.
The rental car guy brought over a car that was certainly undersized for 4 people with all their Agoge gear. We exchanged for a slightly larger car, crammed our stuff in, and motored on…onwards to Sparta!
Even driving in the now modern city of Athens and along the developed route to Sparta, you can’t get over the feeling of the deep history and ruggedness that the landscape holds.
The anticipation was building around just how incredible it was going to be to do the Spartan Agoge in…Sparta!
We arrived in Sparta and located our AirBnB that we shared with 2 other Agoge participants - Dominic (Austria), and Karsten (Germany).
Dominic was gracious to allow Nicole & I to share the room with the big bed, as we were fully expecting to be crammed in a twin bed with Michel as our roommate in the other twin bed.
We unpacked and settled in.
Starving, we headed to the Sparta Central Square where we demolished a pizza.
We then found a store and got some groceries, followed by a brisk walk back to the AirBnB.
Weary and wanting to wind down after a busy day, we played some cards on the bed, “snuggled”, and went off to dreamland.
Karsten was not too happy with me in the morning as he claimed he could not get into the room and had to wait for Dom to arrive and let him in. He was spicy!
Our post breakfast walk had us going through the town of Sparta, grabbing a coffee, and heading to the Ancient Spartan Ruins.
Yep, we were immersed in history now!
Walking the old stone paths it felt like you could hear the clanking of Xiphos, the sword of the Spartans, off in the distance. It was just the light adventure we needed to prime us for the challenge that was about to unfold that afternoon/evening.
The Agoge Briefing - Fri Oct 31st 1600hrs
Agoge participants from around the world descended upon the Sparta Central Square for registration, the event briefing, kit check, and preparations.
The vibe was electric.
Everyone was checking each other out to see who was as crazy as them to participate in such a once in a lifetime challenge. After registration, the Kripteia started barking orders like Drill Sergeants.
“Everyone in a Single Line for Kit Check” - this had everyone pulling out the mandatory items for the journey and the Kriptea spot checking.
Followed by: “Check out the list on the side of the tent” - everyone scrambled to check out the list which turned out to be a readout of “Teams” composed of 8-14 names under such symbols as Snakes, Hawks, & Octopuses.
This is when panic struck…Nicole & I weren’t on the same team!
Oh no! “What did I get her into?” ran through my brain.
Nicole took it in stride though and lined up with her crew, while I toed the line with mine.
It was chaos getting sorted as we learned there would be team captains announced, food (calories) distributed, and flags to be made…all over what seemed like a very short period of time.
2 or 3 folks from each team had to make a flag from a long tube and felt upon which their team symbol was painted. More chaos as this was clearly taking longer than what the Krypteia had expected.
I was not interested in arts and craft time at all, so I involved myself with the distribution of figs, honey, olive oil, herbs, feta, and bread - making sure I had all the items that a typical Spartan would need as they ventured forth towards the unknown perils ahead.
Once organized, we were instructed to meet at King Leonidas’ Tomb at 0000hrs which marked the start of the Agoge: 300 March.
This meant we had about 4hours until start time.
In hindsight, it would have made more sense to spend this time with our teams, doling out the food more evenly, checking each other’s packs for adherence to the kit list and getting to know our strengths & weaknesses better.
Instead, we grabbed a big meal at the Lesxi Symmetron Cafe Bistro, headed back to the AirBnB and attempted to sleep for about 2hrs.
The food was great, the amount of sleep was not…in fact we just laid there thinking about how Nicole could abandon her team and get onto mine.
The rules allowed for switching, but only at checkpoints.
This was designed to be a safety measure, but as we came to learn, others had different plans in mind as the night rolled on.
The Agoge Start - Sat Nov 1st 0000hrs
With everything going on the day/night before, we completely forgot it was Halloween. Well, we were all dressed up as a wild pack of explorers with backpacks loaded for adventure!
And, speaking of loaded, when I arrived to line up behind my team, I noticed 2 guys in our group with backpacks bulging with what seemed like way more items than was outlined on the kit list.
Their packs were huge and full. Grr… For the sake of anonymity, let’s just call them Texas and Sven (you know who you are!)
Nicole was settling in with her crew.
Passersby were likely wondering what kind of weird cult event they had walked into at that hour. Must have been a strange sight seeing 200+ people lined up behind strange flags donning headlamps and trail shoes. Happy Halloween!
Before we embarked from the starting area, our Leader rallied us with a pre-march speech and closed with “We start as a team; We finish as a team”.
This set the stage for our group to gel, and to tackle the challenge ahead as one. I didn’t think much of it at the time, moving as one was great in theory, but proved to be our downfall.
And, as we progressed, we started to realize that this was becoming more of a race against time than a quick tempo team march through the Greek Mountains and back.
The course was divided into a series of check points that required the teams to report on all members, ensuring no one was left behind. This was also the opportunity to perform a documented team switch, designed to create another chaos moment.
Pretty much from the start, I had lobbied my team for votes to bring Nicole into our group when we reached Checkpoint 1. “Is she any good?” was the common reply to which I said “Best of the Best”.
It was an easy decision; Nicole was joining Hawk2 at the first opportunity to do so.
So I thought… We reached Checkpoint 1 ahead of Octopus2, Nicole’s team, and were stocking up on water and eating a few figs.
When I saw her team rolling up on us, she greeted me with a big kiss and I proceeded to tell her that she had a green light to join our team.
“No, I’m fine” was her response.
I was a little taken aback but thought “Cool, she is gelling with her group and having fun”. But…if the shoe was on the other foot…woo hoo!
The critical checkpoint was Checkpoint 5 which required teams to check in by a certain time or be disqualified from continuing…no exceptions…done!
So, when we had an injury in the group and someone who had been dragging their ass under the weight of their overstuffed pack, a feeling of hopelessness set in.
This feeling was magnified when we hit one of the checkpoints and a volunteer said we were 2 hours behind the pace required to get to checkpoint 5. Yikes!
Regardless, the hike was spectacular.
All along the way, I was in awe that this trail had been traveled by Ancient Spartans who were journeying to the Mediterranean Sea over the Taygetos mountain range to Kalamata from Sparta. I found myself wondering how the Spartans of Legend did this trek with shields & spears, basic sandals, and limited rations - incredible!
These feelings more than offset the growing sinking feeling that we were not going to make it to Checkpoint 5.
The drudgery of the Riverbed portion that we traversed between checkpoint 3 and 4 was broken up by the sound of a clamouring hoard gaining on us from behind.
Lo and Behold!
It was Nicole who had joined a new band of misfits led by Dom, our AirBnB roommate.
And, wow, did they ever look fresh & invigorated.
They were Hell bent on getting to Checkpoint 5 and you could see the hunger for this goal in their eyes, and their pace!
It was great to accelerate as her new group caught us up in their wake.
I was excited to see Nicole and have her explain how she jumped onto this new crew and how she was enjoying her adventure.
I would have loved to roll with that gang to the next checkpoint, and was contemplating jumping to her new group at that point, but sure enough Texas and Sven had other plans for me.
Break Time. Bye Nicole.
I had to stay with my crew as they rested and had yet another snack.
By this time, dusk was upon us.
We knew with certainty that we would not make the cutoff time at Checkpoint 5. We resolved to get to Checkpoint 4 and call it a day.
Onward we trudged.
We finally figured out that the trail we were supposed to be following was not the riverbed and we were relieved to trek along the beaten path to Checkpoint 4.
Once there, we signed our check in sheet and were now faced with the task of figuring out how to get back to the AirBnB in Sparta.
Tired, beaten down, and demoralized, this was not a task anyone wanted to sort through. Luckily, Texas had a buddy willing to drive the 2hrs from Sparta to get about 9 of us.
And then, there was the matter of Nicole who was arriving in Kalamata for Checkpoint 5.
We were finally able to text each and discovered that we could not travel back together. We had no guarantees of transportation when I got there.
More luck!
She was able to hitch a ride from one of her original teammates who was proactive enough to realize some folks could be stranded in Kalamata. So he had made his way there once he had bailed out at Checkpoint 2. Wow! Thank you Alex!!
Knowing that Nicole was safely on her way back gave me the peace of mind needed to relax and patiently wait for my ride. My ride back was uneventful. Nicole fell asleep :30 after being in the car and then had to walk another KM to our Air BnB once she was dropped off. It was good to finally get back to the AirBnB to get some sleep.
Agoge Event recap
42hrs allotted time to complete 115K
Nicole & her team made it to Checkpoint 5 (62K in 21hrs)
Mike & his team made it to Checkpoint 4 (55K in 21hrs)
DNFs due to missing Checkpoint 5 at prescribed time
Sun Nov 2
We woke up refreshed and took our time with breakfast & coffee to start the day.
We shared stories with our fellow Spartans/roommates, who also did not complete the full Agoge.
We knew that there were some grumblings by many of the participants, but what unfolded that day grew to fever pitch. It appeared to all the participants that only 10 people actually advanced past Checkpoint 5, and were on their way to complete the Agoge at around 1800hrs.
However, there was controversy.
Social media was lighting up and essentially saying that some of the 10 Spartans that advanced past Checkpoint 5, abandoned their teammates. This would be grounds for disqualification, per the safety rules.
Then there were issues around logistics.
Many who made it to checkpoints 4 & 5, had no way of getting back to Sparta. Some found hotels. Some had no means to pay for hotels (they did not bring their credit cards in their packs). And, some just slept on the beach in Kalamata and waited for fellow Spartans to pick them up when possible.
All this made for a dramatic day.
We decided to attend the Agoge Closing Ceremony scheduled at 1800hrs to
A) see the tough bastards who completed the journey, and,
B) see how the drama would play out.
Well, we got to see both.
There was an angry mob looking for justice for those that advanced and did not follow the rules, and for compensation for the poorly orchestrated event. The mob was not happy.
I was more there for curiosity. I had already reconciled with what I needed to do for the next event, and understood that this is an event designed for Chaos and a test to see how people can sort through it.
The Outcome: 6 of the 10 “finishers” got the honour of the Agoge Completion,while 4 of the 10 got DQ’d due to the safety violation. They were all bad asses in my mind.
Everyone was offered a free pass to the 2026 Agoge: 300 March, as compensation for the sub-standard logistics.
Satisfied with what we saw, Nicole, Todd, Michel & I jammed into the rental car and headed for Athens. Upon dropping Todd & Michel off at their AirBnB in Athens, Nicole & I headed to Vouliagmeni, on the Athenian Riviera for the vacation part of the trip.
Mon Nov 3
Beach Day!
After a quick shot to the grocery store, a hop skip & a jump from our AirBnB, we had our breakfast & coffee.
A slow relaxing morning led into an afternoon at the beach.
The Mediterranean was a little cool that time of year, so we did not spend too much time in the water, but between the cool water, and warm-ish sun, it was good for recovery.
It was nice to just laze around after our hectic & dramatic time in Sparta.
We had headed there the two of us but then who did we run into!? Todd and Michel.. same beach, same time.. what a coincidence!
Tues Nov 4
Feeling the disappointment of not completing the Agoge, we of course wanted to hike some more. We scoped out a local mountain range and made our way there after breakfast.
It was great to get back on our feet, and do some hiking as a couple.
The highlight of this trek was the halfway point where we stopped for some fantastic Greek coffee and some walnut and chocolate cakes at the Kafafugio cafe that was situated at the summit.
You could drive there, as many locals & tourists did, but the hike through the rugged paths and scraggly forest is highly recommended.
When we got to the village where we parked the car, it was dark, and our return back to Vouliagmeni was smooth.
That evening we had a carnivore’s delight at Tylixto, a local restaurant where all the meat dishes looked great, followed by a quick visit to Waffle House next door for some ice cream.
We called it a night after that and hit the hay back in our AirBnB.
Weds Nov 5
Off to Aegina!
The morning before, we had scoped out some of the Greek Islands we thought were interesting and settled on Aegina, which was one of the smaller ones and relatively close.
A quick drive to Piraeus, the main port of Greece, and a short wait for our island hopping ferry, and away we went.
As we arrived at the Aegina port, a quaint village appeared. We got our bearings on the pier, and decided that we needed…coffee! No Starbucks for us this time.
We toured around the narrow alleyways until we came upon a cool little cafe called Panagakis.
We were seated in a quiet little balcony overlooking the Egina boardwalk - so romantic.
We came to learn that this island was known for its pistachios. So, we just had to have one of the Pistachio crepes highlighted on the menu to go with our coffee…yum!
And, we had the pleasure of being served by a local entrepreneur, Stellios.
Working at the cafe was his side hustle as his passion was his cycle and adventure tour business. We were kind of disappointed that we could not spend time with Stellios and go on a tour with him as our time was limited, but we would certainly consider this for a future trip.
Stellios was a romantic at heart and made a black rose out of one of the cafe napkins and presented it to me to offer to Nicole.
She absolutely loved it.
Stellios you are a star!
We needed to walk off our crepes & coffee after saying goodbye to Stellios, and ventured over to an Archaeological site that had some interesting ruins.
Pretty cool, but it was time to head back to catch our ferry.
Our final walk back through Aegina yielded a few souvenirs which included a few packs of the famous pistachios, then on to the ferry for our return to the mainland.
The AirBnB was a welcome sight as we were growing weary from the activities and the salty sea air of the day.
Thurs Nov 6
We kind of dragged our feet on our final day in Greece.
We had a flight to catch, yet you would not know it as we stopped in a few places along our way to the airport not leaving enough time for a proper airport check in.
Let’s just say a Starbucks detour was almost the cause of us missing the flight.
By the time we got to the Air Canada check in, it was closed.
No time to contemplate all the options; Straight to the security check with 2 bags each and see what fate had in store for us.
Tyche, the Greek Goddess of Luck, was smiling upon us as we got the volume of bags, AND a few items that never should have been cleared, through screening.
Wild!
We ventured on to our gate without looking back, and caught up with Michel who was wondering if we were going to make the flight.
Well, we held our breath a bit more as we proceeded to board the flight with TWO carry-ons each, loaded them into the overhead, and waited for wheels up.
Phew - we made it! Bye Greece; until next time. Good times!
©️Adventure Aweights
written by: Mike McDonald · designed & edited by: Nicole Bowman
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