1 week before the 10th edition of the Verona Marathon (and half marathon)

From the website of the Verona Marathon, you can find an interesting article describing why it is interesting to run the Verona Marathon next week, Sunday February 20th. This is one of the first important running event and more than 7,000 runners will participate, either to the marathon (expected 2,000 runners at the finish line) or to the Half Marathon (expected 4,000 runners). Both events are in the top 10 in Italy, with the half marathon in the podium (the website indicates in 2010 the Giulietta & Romeo half Marathon was second after the Rome-Ostia, but they were closer with StraMilano). If you are competing in Verona next week, you can take a look at the Verona marathon course or at the Verona Half marathon course. Due to the number of runners, there will be corrals at the starting line, with 4 different colors (yellow for top runners, orange for the first grid, green for the second and light-blue for the last one). The organization has foreseen refreshements every 5km, starting at km 15th, with 6 different tables, the first for the top runners, in the second one runners can find still waters, in the third one Gatorade, in the fourth one hot tea, in the fifth one bananas, in the last one biscuits. There will be pacemakers from 2h45, every 15 minutes till 5h, plus the 6h pacemakers. The Marathon will start at 9am, while the half marathon at 10:15am.
If you are interested to understand how the marathon looks like, you can read the Verona Marathon live experience.

‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’ is undoubtedly one of the most renowned Shakespearean lines. Thanks to the major British poet, the city of Verona has become the city of love and passion, where the most famous love affair of all time was set. However, since 2001 Verona is also the place every runner loves. In the last ten years, in fact, Verona has been hosting the Verona Marathon, an amazing and exciting international running event across the old city centre and the city’s suburbs. The 10th edition of the 42,195 km running race is taking place on 20th February, 2011 and it will kick off and close beside the Verona Arena, the Roman amphitheatre worldwide known for the large-scale opera, music and theatre performances hosted there since ancient times. The 2011 Verona Marathon event comprises also the Romeo and Juliet Half Marathon, along a stunning course that touches some of the most beautiful corners in the heart of Verona. Both races are IAAF (International Association Athletics Federation), AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) and FIDAL (Italian Federation of Athletics) officially recognised races. Last year’s Romeo and Juliet Half Marathon ranked third among Italy’s most popular half marathons with almost 4.000 participants.For those who aim to take part in the 2011 Verona Marathon event in a funnier and more relaxed way, the Family Run non competitive race brings together youngsters and families on a 13, 7 or 4 km course, exploring the beauty of Verona.Registrations to the 2011 Verona Marathon and the Romeo and Juliet Half Marathon are already closed. Entries for the Family Run event will be open until Sunday 20 February (fees: €5,00 – free children under 10 years of age).In 2000 Verona was listed as a World Heritage site by the UNESCO Committee and for the tenth time next February it’ll be invaded by runners of every level and nationality. Last year, over 6.500 people took part in the event. One of the targets for this year’s competition is to break this record, and the organizing committee led by Verona Marathon GAAC 2007 ASD along with the Verona Municipal Sports Bureau, is confident to welcome to their city a huge number of competitors and running lovers next month. Because Verona has always been the perfect place for every kind of …lovers.

2010 ranking for Italian Marathons preferred by International Runners

The objective of this website is to provide useful information for international runners, who would like to participate to Italian Marathons. In the last 2 years, we have provided several rankings, with the goal to give a sizing on the Italian marathons and half-marathons. 
The interesting ranking below provides information on how many international runners participate to Italian Marathons. The key idea is to indicate how prepared is the organizer of the different races to take care of international requests. No surprise: there is a strict correlation between the complete ranking and this one. Around 10,000 international runners decided to compete in Italy in 2010, this represents 22% on the total number of runners participating to Italian Marathons (the february edition of the monthly magazine "Correre" indicated that 34,100 were the number of Italian runners participating at least to 1 marathon). The top 3 marathons, Rome, Florence, and Venice captured more than 80% of the total international runners in Italy. However, it is worthwhile to notice that at least 2 marathons have higher ranking for international runners. First, the Trieste marathon has more than 28% of international runners: only Rome, Florence and Venice have better percentages. Second, Palermo marathon at the end of November, with incredible weather above 15 degrees, is able to attract an high number of international runners and has a ratio of 27%. 

Below you can find the ranking for the top Italian marathons, based on numbers of international runners. Please note that the ranking refers only to the most recent marathon, while former edition might have got higher participations. 24 Marathons had more than 10 international participants.

TOP TEN:

1. Rome Marathon: international runners 4550
(Mar 21 2010, Ranking Rome Marathon 2010)

2. Florence Marathon: international runners 2118
(Nov 28 2010, Ranking Florence Marathon 2010)

3. Venice Marathon: international runners 1350
(Oct 25 2010, Ranking Venice Marathon 2010)

4: Lake Garda Marathon: international runners 404
(Oct 10 2010, Ranking Lake Garda Marathon 2010)

5. Milan City Marathon: international runners 402
(Apr 11 2010, Ranking Milan Marathon 2010)

6. Trieste Marathon: international runners 175

(May 2 2010, Ranking Trieste Marathon 2010)

7. Turin Marathon: international runners 153
(Nov 11 2010, Ranking Turin Marathon 2010)

8. Padua Marathon: international runners 127
(Apr 25 2010, Ranking Padua Marathon 2010)

9. Verona Marathon: international runners 123
(Feb 21 2010, Ranking Verona Marathon 2010)

10. Carpi Ferrari Italian Marathon: international runners 114
(Oct 10 2010, Ranking Ferrari Marathon 2010)

TOP 20:

11. South Tirol Marathon: international runners 103
(Oct 3 2010, ST Marathon 2010)


12. Treviso Marathon: international runners 77

(Mar 27 2010, Ranking Treviso Marathon 2010)

13. Palermo Marathon: international runners 52
(Nov 21 2010, Ranking Brianza Marathon 2010)

14. Reggio Emilia: international runners 39
(Dec 12 2010, Ranking Reggio Emilia Marathon 2010)

15. Piceno Marathon: international runners 34
(May 16 2010, Ranking Piceno Marathon 2010)

16. Mugello Marathon, international runners 33

(Oct 30 2010, Mugello Marathon 2010) 

17. Lucca Marathon: international runners 28

(Oct 25 2010, Ranking Lucca Marathon 2010)

18. Messina Marathon: international runners 27

(Apr 25 2010, Messina Marathon 2010 Ranking)

19. Custoza Marathon: international runners 19

(May 10 2010, Ranking Custoza Marathon 2010)

20. Livorno Marathon: international runners 19

(Nov 14 2010, Livorno Marathon 2010 Ranking)

TOP 30:

21. Naples Marathon: international runners 16
(Apr 18 2010, Naples Marathon 2010)

22. Trasimeno Lake Marathon: international runners 13

(Mar 7 2010, Trasimeno 2010)

23. Colle Marathon, from Barchi to Fano: international runners 11

(May 2 2010, Collemar Marathon ranking)

24. Placentia Marathon: international runners 11 

(Mar 7 2010, Placentia Marathon 2010)

2011 Naples Marathon results

Below you can find the results of 2011 Naples Marathon, where 400 athletes completed the 26.2 miles. 1 runner out of 15 were foreigner.

3 Italian Downhill Marathons and implication on your performance

Treviso Elevation (minus 96 meters, 315 feet)

The IAAF defines "downhill marathon course" a competition where the course has a negative elevation between departure and arrival. At first cut, these types of competition should allow the average runner to perform better. The real question is therefore how much do such courses affect performance? Unfortunately the answer is surprising: not as much as you might think. Actually, it depends: in reality it is not the difference between departure and arrival that makes the difference, but the percentage of positive and negative elevation on the 26.2 miles course. 

Moreover, gain and loss depend on runners speed: every 100 feet (30.5 meters) of elevation descent speeds runners by 3.6% of his or her average one mile pace (2% grade/mile), while elevation gain would slow down runners by 6.6%, which is almost double the gain got from the descent. In other words, descent does not give back as much as ascent take away. 

The most famous downhill marathon in the US are St. George Utah Marathon in October and the Tucson Marathon in December. In Italy there are actually 3 marathons that are classified by IAAF as downhill, Treviso, Carpi and Collemar. The most popular is Treviso marathon (see the elevation profile on top). With more than 2000 runners, Treviso is the best organized event, with great local participation in the course. To see how the marathon experience looks like, readers can look at the Treviso marathon live experience link. The event takes usually place at the end of March and it is supported by Asics.

Carpi marathon Elevation (minus 100 meters, 330 feet)

The Ferrari Italian Marathon departing from Maranello (Ferrari's headquarter) and arriving in Carpi (Modena) is competing with Treviso both in the organization and in the performance of athletes. Details can be found in the Carpi marathon live experience. 

Finally, the Collemar Marathon is more a local event, with limited foreign runners, but it represents a truly great experience, with wonderful countryside, great food and outstanding organization. It does not provide great advantage to runners in term of performance, since the first part of the race is partly upphill (see below). Details can be found in the Collemar marathon live experience.
All Garmin tracks for the top 10 Italian marathons are available here.

Collemar marathon Elevation (minus 310 meters, 1000 feet) 

5 reasons to run the 2011 Milan City Marathon

This has been posted by the Milan City Marathon more than twelve months ago, but we believe it is still representing great reasons to participate to this event. 
Below you can find 5 compelling arguments to enroll to the 11th edition of the Milan City Marathon on April 10th 2011:



1. Because it has the fastest race course in Italy (the race record’s improves every year, in 2008 Duncan Kibet has stopped the clock at chronometer on the time of 2:07’53’’). From this year it will be at the beginning of the race season.



2. It is the chance to discover a city that is always on the run, at a different pace: you will be able to combine sport and tourism, seeing the monuments and the beauties of this unique city.


3. You will cross in the center of Milan and get the opportunity to shop in the world´s most fashionable city. You will be able to run side by side with people from the world of the fashion, politics and show business. Milan will host the Expo 2015.


4. Because everyone can run Milan: if you cannot complete enough training to run the full 42,195 Km you will be able to run the half marathon, or run with your friends in the relay marathon! There is one finish line for all the race distances: the iconic Piazza Castello 
in the heart of Milan.


5. Milan is the most well connected city in the world, besides the low cost flights there are hotel package deals that will allow you to spend a weekend in Milan for a reasonable price. 

Italian Half Marathon top 30 ranking 2010

Below the list of the top 30 half Marathons in Italy, which represent a small proportion of the total number of competition in the country. Except for the top 5, the Italian half marathon list has regional participants (under parenthesis, the number of finishers in 2010).


TOP 10
1. Roma Ostia Half Marathon (8505), 28-Feb 2010, Rome 
2. Stramilano Half Marathon (3867), 21-Mar 2010, Milan  
3. Giulietta & Romeo Half Marathon (3826), 21-Feb 2010, Verona
4. Garda Trentino Half Marathon (2723), 14-Nov 2010, Riva del Garda (TN) 
5. Monza Half Marathon (2517), 19-Sep 2010, Monza (MI) 
6. Palmanova Half Marathon (2337), 21-Nov 2010,  Palmanova (UD) 
7. Agropoli Half Marathon (2280), 10-Oct 2010, Agropoli (SA) 
8. Cremona Half Marathon (2273), 17-Oct 2010, Cremona 
9. Turin Half Marathon (2112) 26-Sep 2010, Turin 
10. Lago Maggiore Half Marathon (2024) 7-Mar 2010, Verbania 


TOP 20
11. Fiumicino Half Marathon (2018) 14-Feb 2010, Rome 
12. Mezza Maratona delle Due Perle (1967), 14-Feb 2010, Santa Margherita Ligure (GE) 
13. Maratonina dei Tre Comuni (1936), 31-Jan 2010, Nepi (VT)

14. Bavisela Half Marathon (1869), 2-May Trieste 

15. UniCredit Run Tun up Bologna (1592), 5-Sep 2010, Bologna 
16. Dogi Half Marathon (1481), 11-Apr 2010 Stra (Venice) 
17. Montefortiana Half Marathon (1428), 17-Jan 2010, Monteforte d'Alpone (Verona) 
18. Scarpa d'oro Half Marathon (1411), 21-Mar 2010, Vigevano (Milan) 
19. Strapiacenza Half Marathon for Unicef (1409), 7-Mar 2010, Piacenza 
20. Padua Half Marathon (1405), 25-Apr 2010, Padua 


TOP 30
21. Busto Half Marathon (1390), 7-Nov 2010, Busto Arsizio (VA)
22. Udine Half Marathon (1332), 26-Sep 2010, Udine 
23. Genova Half Marathon (1331), 18-Apr 2010, Genova 
24. Meran Half Marathon (1287), 25-Apr 2010, Meran 
25. Gardaland Half Marathon (1150), 5-Dec 2010, Castelnuovo del Garda (Verona)
26. Flowers Half Marathon (1133), 18-Apr 2010, San Benedetto del Tronto (AP) 
27. Vivicittà Firenze Half Marathon (1102), 11-Apr 2010, Florence 
28. Half Marathon MareMonti (1064), 11-Apr 2010, Sorrento (Naples) 
29. Naples Half Marathon (1056), 18-Apr 2010, Naples 
30. Palermo Half Marathon (1035), 21-Nov 2010, Palermo

10 reasons to run the new Naples Marathon on the 30th of January 2011

According to the Naples Marathon website, these are ten reasons to run the International Naples Marathon on January 30th 2011. Compared to previous years, the event has been put forward by three months (January vs. April) to avoid competing in an overcrowded space with big marathons. This is indeed a great intuition, since it is very cold to run in the North of Europe in January, but ideal in the South. Organizer's expectation is to double the number of participants in 2011 (430 runners completed the marathon in 2010).

Those are the 10 reasons:

1-The course is pretty smooth, almost completely flat and well paved, with few turns limiting runners' speed
2-The Marathon Village is very closed to the Marathon start and finish and it is located in Piazza del Plebiscito, in front of the Royal Palace
3-You can run on one of the world's most beautiful promenades and main roads of the city center
4-The average temperature in January of Naples is ideal for a marathon (according to ilmeteo.it, the temperature on the day of the race will be 7-9 degrees C at the departure and 13-14 degrees C few hours later)
5-If you are not ready to run the 26.2 miles marathon, you can still compete with the race relay with two friends (not mentioned by the website as key reason, however runners can also take part to the Half Marathon)
6- Registration fees are very low (according to the site, 30 euro are the current fee, while 35 euro needs to be paid after the 20th of January. You can pay through the Active.com network as well)
7-You can stay at low cost, two excellent 4-star Hotels, being arranged to suit your needs (the two hotels are the Grand Hotel Oriente, which is located 100 meters from the departure and the Hotel Villa Capodimonte, ideal for relaxing week-end, also offering a shuttle to/from the Marathon departure/arrival. According to the site, the price for each night is 80 euro for a double bed, and 105 for a triple. Both hotels support an extended check-out to allow runners to take shower after the race)
8- The "Neapolis New Marathon" testimonial is a great Tuscan athlete Gloria Marconi, a symbol of loyalty and passion for sport (Gloria is a retired athlete who won the 2003 edition of the Rome Marathon in 2h29)
9- The organizing committee has been greatly strengthened, rising from three to eleven executives
10- You can find out with us, why the city of Naples is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO