Florence Marathon

Florence Marathon
Florence's architecture features prominently – Piazza Santa Croce is the finishing point
Date	Late November
Location	Florence, Italy
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Established	1984
Official site	Florence Marathon

The Florence Marathon (Italian: Maratona di Firenze) is an annual full-length marathon race which takes place in late November in Florence, Italy. Established in 1984, the international competition has significantly grown in size since its inaugural edition of 462 runners^[1] – a total of 10,211 runners started the 2010 edition, making it the second largest Italian marathon after the Rome City Marathon.^[2]

Orlando Pizzolato, a two-time New York Marathon winner, was present to inaugurate the race in 1984.^[3] The competition's first course was about a kilometre short of the true marathon distance, and it was increased for all subsequent editions.^[4] The current course, which was created in 2001, starts at the Piazzale Michelangelo and finishes in Piazza Santa Croce. It passes through much of Florence's historical town centre, with architecture dating from the 13th century, including: Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, and the Basilica of Santa Croce.^[3]

The course of the race traces a winding path (initially heading west) and it repeatedly zigzags back on itself as it passes many of the touristic sights of the city.^[5] This makes it a particularly difficult marathon as runners have to contend with the course's many bends, as well as cobblestone roads.^[6] The race begins by gently going uphill, continues with a downhill section between the 2–5 km marks, and features a largely flat course from this point until the finish.^[7] An AIMS-certified course,^[8] it has an overall net drop of 75 m thus it is ineligible for world records.^[4]

Italians form the bulk of the runners, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom are usually the next most represented nationalities in the field.^[9] From 2005 to 2009, the competition was annually broadcast live for three hours on the state-owned Rai Tre channel.^[3] The race is among Italy's most prominent – it was selected to be the national championship marathon race for the first time in 2003.^[4] The current course record holders are James Kutto, who set the men's record of 2:08:41 in 2006, and Helena Javornik, who ran 2:28:15 in 2002 to set the women's record.^[10]

Past winners

The Piazza della Signoria is one of many Florentine squares along the course of the marathon.

Kenyan runner Alice Chelangat won the women's race in 2005.

Key:       Course record       Country's championship race       Short course

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Women's winner	Time (h:m:s)
I	1984	Andrew Robertson (SCO)	2:15:23	Gillian Burley (ENG)	2:32:53
II	1985	Fausto Molinari (ITA)	2:17:44	Celia Duncan (ENG)	2:44:32
III	1986	Andrew Girling (ENG)	2:15:37	Graziella Striuli (ITA)	2:39:35
IV	1987	Trevor Fieldsend (ENG)	2:16:33	Carolyn Naisby (ENG)	2:33:23
V	1988	Edgardo Farinelli (ITA)	2:15:51	Manola Casalini (ITA)	2:43:14
VI	1989	Alberto Lucherini (ITA)	2:16:48	Christine VanPut (BEL)	2:39:45
VII	1990	Roman Kejžar (YUG)	2:18:57	Valentina Bottarelli (ITA)	2:44:23
VIII	1991	Alberto Lucherini (ITA)	2:16:33	Sheila Catford (SCO)	2:35:37
IX	1992	Ivo Rodriguez (BRA)	2:19:12	Ingrid Ekroll (NOR)	2:50:34
X	1993	Ivano Marcon (ITA)	2:16:39	Eva Petrik (HUN)	2:42:24
XI	1994	Antonio Clair Wathier (BRA)	2:14:03	Dana Hajna (CZE)	2:41:34
XII	1995	Bernard Boiyo (KEN)	2:15:36	Svetlana Netchaeva (RUS)	2:40:08
XIII	1996	Sammy Korir (KEN)	2:15:04	Bettina Sabatini (ITA)	2:33:51
XIV	1997	Ottaviano Andriani (ITA)	2:14:27	Matilde Ravizza (ITA)	2:47:00
XV	1998	Azzedine Sakhri (ALG)	2:16:39	Ida Kovacs (HUN)	2:44:16
XVI	1999	Michele Gamba (ITA)	2:11:51	Michaela McCallum (ENG)	2:38:28
XVII	2000	Angelo Carosi (ITA)	2:14:11	Tiziana Alagia (ITA)	2:32:18
XVIII	2001	Daniel Kirwa (KEN)	2:10:38	Florinda Andreucci (ITA)	2:32:26
XIX	2002	Michael Kapkiai (KEN)	2:11:15	Helena Javornik (SLO)	2:28:15
XX	2003	Angelo Carosi (ITA)	2:15:54	Anna Carmela Incerti (ITA)	2:34:40
XXI	2004	Benjamin Kiprotich (KEN)	2:11:34	Florence Barsosio (KEN)	2:29:11
XXII	2005	Samson Kosgei (KEN)	2:11:27	Alice Chelangat (KEN)	2:30:46
XXIII	2006	James Kutto (KEN)	2:08:41	Vincenza Sicari (ITA)	2:34:52
XXIV	2007	Paul Ngeny Kipkemboi (KEN)	2:12:50	Vincenza Sicari (ITA)	2:33:14
XXV	2008	Jackson Kirwa Kiprono (KEN)	2:12:37	Giovanna Volpato (ITA)	2:34:13
XXVI	2009	Benjamin Chebet Kipruto (KEN)	2:11:21	Eva-Maria Gradwohl (AUT)	2:35:41
XXVII	2010	Aredo Tolesa Tadese (ETH)	2:12:41	Firehiwot Dado (ETH)	2:28:58

By country

Country	Men's race	Women's race	Total
Italy	9	11	20
Kenya	10	2	12
England	2	4	6
Brazil	2	0	2
Ethiopia	1	1	2
Hungary	0	2	2
Scotland	1	1	2
Slovenia	1	1	2
Algeria	1	0	1
Austria	0	1	1
Belgium	0	1	1
Czech Republic	0	1	1
Norway	0	1	1
Russia	0	1	1

Participation

Number of race finishers

Year	Men	Women	Total
2010	6611	1179	7790
2009	7025	1182	8207
2008	6181	1022	7203
2007	5356	931	6287
2006	5289	981	6270
2005	4201	679	4880
2004	3486	520	4006
2003	3428	561	3989
2002	2851	404	3255
2001	2351	291	2642
2000	2242	239	2481
1999	2055	186	2241
1998	2116	161	2277
1997	2170	194	2364
1996	2292	181	2473
1995	2166	145	2311
1994	1955	129	2084
1993	1470	78	1548
1992	1233	52	1285
1991	1022	45	1067
1990	1018	39	1057
1989	1127	43	1170
1988	1119	38	1157
1987	1247	50	1297
1986	1180	45	1225
1985	822	37	859
1984	448	14	462

• All statistics taken from the Association of Road Racing Statisticians.^[4]

References

1. ^ Sampaolo, Diego (2009-11-26). Record field of 10,000 runners the new barrier for Kosgei to clear – Florence Marathon, PREVIEW. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-11-30.
2. ^ Sampaolo, Diego (2010-11-29). Beating the rain and cold, Dado and debutante Tadese triumph in Florence. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-11-29.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Presentation. Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Civai, Franco (2008-12-26). Firenze Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2009-11-30.
5. ^ Course plan 2009. Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
6. ^ Sampaolo, Diego (2008-11-30). Kenya and hosts share honours in Florence Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
7. ^ The Course of XXVI Firenze Marathon. Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
8. ^ AIMS Race Directory. AIMS (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
9. ^ Statistics 2008. Firenze Marathon (2008). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
10. ^ Albo D'Oro (Italian). Firenze Marathon. Retrieved on 2009-12-02.

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 43°46′08″N 11°15′40″E / 43.76889°N 11.26111°E / 43.76889; 11.26111