On Sunday 27th March the roads of the Italian capital are getting ready to the invasion of 11 thousand runners, including 5 thousand foreign runners from 102 countries. 22% of the runners are women. Some Ukrainian runners, who escaped from Russian bombs, are at the start. There is a lot of solidarity at the Acea Run4 Rome.
It’s time to take stock of the upcoming weekend at the Acea Run Rome the Marathon, which starts on Sunday 27 March together with the Charity Relay Acea Run4 Rome and the popular Fun Race. The latter returns on site for the first time in the post-pandemic era, but runners can take part in virtual mode from all over Italy. The race will start from Fori Imperiali at 8.30. Runners will have to run around Rome for 42 km alongside the Tiber, source of life and symbol of this edition, which is featured on the medal and the on the official t-shirt.
THE FIGURES – The first number to remember is the course record, held by Kenya’s Benjamin Kiptoo Kolum, who clocked 2:07:18 in 2009. Ethiopia’s Kebede Megertu Alemu ran the women’s course record of 2:22:52 in 2019. The records could be broken, especially in the men’s race.
Almost thousand runners are entered at the Acea Run Rome The Marathon. There are also “charity runners” entered for the Acea Run4 Rome and the participants of the popular Stracittadina Fun Race, with a postponed start compared to the marathon, what will ensure a river of runners and a happy atmosphere on the roads of Rome. There are 2417 women entered in the marathon, more than 22% of all participants.
FOREIGN RUNNERS – Although the pandemic is not over yet and there are still many restrictions to travels, 5 thousand foreign runners from 102 countries representing all continents will take part in the Acea Run Rome The Marathon. Italy is the most represented country with 5827 participants, followed by France (909 runners), the United Kingdom (693) and Spain (455). The United States are ranked just behind and are first among non-European countries with 330 participants. In the past days the organisation contacted the 49 Ukrainian registered runners. Only few of them will be at the start line. Some of them have managed to escape the war and the disastrous situations. Others have informed that they cannot take part in the race because they are fighting at the front or they are blocked in their cities. Unfortunately, one of the them, Kyrylo, died on 2 March during the conflict, as his father informed in a moving mail.
THE ITALIAN RUNNERS – Runners come from all Italian regions: Lazio is the most represented region with 2082 participants, followed by Apulia (628) and Lombardy (617). The Central Italian regions are at the top of the podium. The Northern and Southern regions are ranked ex aequo. These figures are reflected by the provinces, where runners come from: Rome is once again the most undisputed province con 1837 runners, followed by Barletta, Andria and Trani (255 participants). Milan is third with 207 runners. There are hundreds runners from Neaples, Bari, Florence, Chieti, Lecce, Turin. Nuoro, Biella and Vercelli come joint at the end of the ranking.
THE MOST CURIOUS FACTS AND FIGURES – There are 30 top runners, including men and women, 22 “veteran” runners, who have taken part in all the 26 previous editions, and 48 runners, who will celebrate their birthdays on Sunday 27 March running the Acea Run Rome. Twenty of these 39 male and 9 female runners come from abroad. Ukraine’s Tetyana Monayeva, whose birthday on 22 March, had chosen this marathon to celebrate her birthday. She is now travelling from the Romanian border, where she served as interpreter for the Ukrainian people, who were escaping from war.
10 % of participants are between 20 and 30 years old, 22% of registered athletes are between 31 and 40 years old, 35% of athletes are between 41 and 50 years old, 26% of them are between 51 and 60 years old, about 7% of them are between 61 and 70 years old, and there is even 0.8% of over 70 runners. One of them is Antonio Rao, who turned 89 last February, is the oldest marathon runner in the race.
In the ranking of the most common names there are 72 with at least 20 registered athletes. The best ranked male names are Marco (191), Andrea (183) and Antonio (161). Anna (37) is the first female name in 43rd position, slightly ahead of Laura and Barbara. Several foreign names have earned a spot in this curious ranking.