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
Primary sponsor	Asics
Established	1984(41 years ago) (1984)
Course records	Men: 2:08:41 (2006) James Kutto Women: 2:24:17 (2018) Lonah Salpeter
Official site	Florence Marathon
Participants	3,751 finishers (2021) 5,792 (2019) 7,606 (2018)

The Florence Marathon (Italian : Maratona di Firenze) is an annual full-length marathon race held in late November in Florence, Italy, since 1984.

History

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]

Italians form the bulk of the runners, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom are usually the next most represented nationalities in the field. ^[5] 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 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of registering for 2021, 2022, or 2023 for free. ^{[6] [7]}

Course

Initial course

The course used in the inaugural race was about 965 m (3,166 ft) short. ^[4]

From 2001 to 2009

From 2001 through 2009, the course began at Piazzale Michelangelo and had a zigzagging path through the centre. ^{[8] [3]} The bends and cobblestone roads made for a particularly difficult marathon and this led to the change in 2011 for an easier, faster race. ^{[9] [10]}

An AIMS-certified course, ^[11] it was ineligible for world records due to an overall net drop of 75 m from 2001 to 2009, but the current course is now eligible. ^[4]

From 2010 to 2011

The course used in 2010 and 2011 had a drop of 40 m (130 ft), which meant that it was eligible for records as it was within the drop limit of 1 m/km (5.3 ft/mi). ^[4]

Current course

The course, which was first used in 2012, starts at the Lungarno Pecori Giraldi 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.

Winners

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

The current course record holders are James Kutto, who set the men's record of 2:08:41 in 2006, and Lonah Chemtai Salpeter who set the female course record of 2:24:17 in 2018. ^[12]

Key:

   Course record (in bold)

   Country's championship race

   Short course

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time [a]	Women's winner	Time [a]	Rf.
I	1984	Andrew Robertson  (GBR)	2:15:23	Gillian Burley  (GBR)	2:32:53
II	1985	Fausto Molinari  (ITA)	2:17:44	Celia Duncan  (GBR)	2:44:32
III	1986	Andrew Girling  (GBR)	2:15:37	Graziella Striuli  (ITA)	2:39:35
IV	1987	Trevor Fieldsend  (GBR)	2:16:33	Carolyn Naisby  (GBR)	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 Van Put  (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  (GBR)	2:35:37
IX	1992	Ivo Rodrigues  (BRA)	2:19:12	Ingrid Ekroll  (NOR)	2:50:34
X	1993	Ivano Marcon  (ITA)	2:16:39	Éva Petrik  (HUN)	2:42:24
XI	1994	Clair Wathier  (BRA)	2:14:03	Dana Hajná  (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 Kovács  (HUN)	2:44:16
XVI	1999	Michele Gamba  (ITA)	2:11:51	Michaela McCallum  (GBR)	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 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  (KEN)	2:12:50	Vincenza Sicari  (ITA)	2:33:14
XXV	2008	Jackson Kiprono  (KEN)	2:12:37	Giovanna Volpato  (ITA)	2:34:13
XXVI	2009	Ben Chebet  (KEN)	2:11:21	Eva-Maria Gradwohl  (AUT)	2:35:41
XXVII	2010	Tadese Tolesa  (ETH)	2:12:41	Firehiwot Dado  (ETH)	2:28:58
XXVIII	2011	Birhanu Bekele  (ETH)	2:09:52	Asha Gigi  (ETH)	2:31:36
XXIX	2012	Endeshaw Negesse  (ETH)	2:09:59	Shuru Diriba  (ETH)	2:30:08
XXX	2013	Oleksandr Sitkovskyy  (UKR)	2:09:14	Abeba Teklu  (ETH)	2:30:37
XXXI	2014	Asbel Kipsang  (KEN)	2:09:55	Bizuayehu Ehite  (ETH)	2:31:28
XXXII	2015	Tujuba Megersa  (ETH)	2:09:55	Priscah Cherono  (KEN)	2:31:34
XXXIII	2016	Yadete Teshome  (ETH)	2:11:57	Winnie Jepkorir  (KEN)	2:28:46
XXXIV	2017	Zelalem Bacha  (BHR)	2:14:41	Dire Tune  (ETH)	2:28:55
XXXV	2018	Abdi Ali Gelelchu  (BHR)	2:11:32	Lonah Salpeter  (ISR)	2:24:17	[13] [14]
XXXVI	2019	Sahlessilae Bekele  (ETH)	2:10:14	Jess Piasecki  (GBR)	2:25:29	[15] [16]
—	2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic				[6]
XXXVII	2021	Cybrian Kotut  (KEN)	2:08:59	Tsehay Maru  (ETH)	2:27:17

By country

Country	Men's race	Women's race	Total
Italy	9	11	20
Kenya	12	4	16
Ethiopia	6	7	13
England	2	4	6
Brazil	2	0	2
Hungary	0	2	2
Scotland	1	1	2
Slovenia	1	1	2
Algeria	1	0	1
Austria	1	0	1
Bahrain	2	0	2
Belgium	0	1	1
Czech Republic	0	1	1
United Kingdom	0	1	1
Israel	0	1	1
Norway	0	1	1
Russia	0	1	1
Ukraine	1	0	1

Participation

Number of race finishers

Year	Men	Women	Total
2013	7839	1451	9290
2012	6577	1194	7771
2011	5924	1004	6928
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]

Notes

1. h:m:s

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. Presentation Archived 2009-01-05 at the Wayback Machine . Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
4. Civai, Franco (2008-12-26). Firenze Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2009-11-30.
5. Statistics 2008 Archived 2008-10-05 at the Wayback Machine . Firenze Marathon (2008). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
6. "37th FLORENCE MARATHON POSTPONED TO 2021 – Firenze Marathon". Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
7. "INFO FOR 2020 ENROLLED – Firenze Marathon". www.firenzemarathon.it. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
8. Course plan 2009 Archived 2009-11-04 at the Wayback Machine . Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
9. Sampaolo, Diego (2008-11-30). Kenya and hosts share honours in Florence Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
10. The Course of XXVI Firenze Marathon Archived 2009-11-20 at the Wayback Machine . Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
11. AIMS Race Directory Archived 2016-09-27 at the Wayback Machine . AIMS (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02.
12. "Israeli woman wins Florence marathon, smashing national record" . Retrieved 2018-11-25.
13. "25/11/2018 - 35ª Firenze Marathon - TDS.sport". Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
14. https://web.archive.org/web/20201027031659/https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/-/14612043
15. "TDS.Sport". Archived from the original on 2020-10-27.
16. https://web.archive.org/web/20201027030120/https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/-/14671957

External links

• Official website

43°46′08″N11°15′40″E / 43.76889°N 11.26111°E / 43.76889; 11.26111