Venice Marathon to observe silver jubilee
Venice is to celebrate the silver jubilee of its famous Venice Marathon on Sunday October 24. The IAAF Silver Label regarded Venice Marathon has also broken the record of enjoying 7 thousand entries for the starting line of the track of Villa Pisani in Stra
this season.
The much awaited marathon enjoys a huge response from the potential participants that the organizers had to announce in May that available bib numbers had been sold out last spring.
In order to mark the 25th anniversary of the event, the track of the marathon would pass through famous Piazza Ferretto in Mestre and the Worldwide famous St. Mark’s Square present in the heart of the Venice city.
Another development, which has been announced by the organisers, is that this year Venice Marathon would also incorporate the Italian Marathon Championships. Danilo Gaffi, the 1998 silver medalist at European championships and Migidio Bourifa, the seventh
finishers at the European Championships held in Barcelona would make the event more thrilling as they would vie for the national title during the race.
For Goffi, the Venice Marathon would provide a chance to take revenge from their rivals for not being selected for the Italian team to participate in Barcelona. The chances for Goffi to depict his potential all over again at Venice track are good for this
as was the track, which brought him in the lime light in 1995 when he had beaten Stefano Baldini and crossed the finishing line in two hours, nine minutes and twenty-eight seconds.
Perhaps it was the Venice Marathon’s track where Goffi also depicted his second best of two hours, nine minutes and fifty-five seconds in 2004.
During the event, Bourifa would look forward to make it to his third title after Rome 2007 and Treviso 2009, while the rest of the race would be like the traditional African affair. As a matter of fact, it is rather difficult to achieve the best times on
a tough track where the race would be expected to reach its climax on 13 bridges and would most probably prove to be an exciting grapple between Ethiopia and Kenya.
In half marathon competitions, winner of the Rome Ostia 2010, Peter Some Kimeli, Paul Samoei Kimeli the second at Venice Marathon in 2009 along with Willian Chebon, the winner of Udine half Marathon held in last September. They would look forward to take
on Tujuba Megersa Beyu from Ethiopia, who has clocked his lifetime best record with a mere one hour and sixteen seconds.
In the women’s race too, the real battle would take place between Kenya and Ethiopia. On the Kenyan side there is Anne Keptanui Berwerwe with a previous best (PB) of two hours, twenty-eight minutes and twenty-two seconds, and Elisabeth Cheruyiot Chemweno
with a PB of two hours, twenty-eight minutes and fifty-five seconds. While on the Ethiopian side the main challengers would be Shuru Diriba Dulume with a PB of two hours, twenty-eight minutes and twenty-two seconds along with Makda Harun Haji, who had depicted
the best time of two hours, twenty-nine minutes and fifty-six seconds last year on Venice’s track.
Another Kenyan runner Eveline Kemunto Kimewy would be making her debut in the marathon. However, the girl cannot be written off or taken lightly, as she has already run half marathons, in which she has five times clocked under, one hour and ten minutes.
Her PB for the half marathon has been one hour, eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds. On the Italian side, the veteran athlete Marcella Mancini and reigning National marathon Laura Giordano would fight for the Italian title.
As ever, the Venice Marathon would continue to promote the solidarity project named “Run for Water-Run for Life”, with having Africa Mission as a main contributor during the 25th anniversary event.
To mark the commitment with the resolution of the solidarity project, a third drinking water well has been dug in Uganda, which has been financed by the money raised by selling the bib numbers.
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