Venice events: Venice marathon
Venicemarathon has earned a place among the most important sport events of the city. It is a sports event of international standing, attracting over 6,000 runners from all over the world every year.
The marathon is held over the official Olympic distance of 42,195 kilometers (26,224 miles). The course is flat and basically downhill.
It starts from Stra (a small country town about 25 km west of Venice) in the Veneto region and follows the Brenta River (italian: Riviera del Brenta), passing in front of the magnificent Palladian Villas of the area.
The Venicemarathon's runners arrive in Venice via the Liberty Bridge, the bridge which links the mainland to the city. It then follows the Zattere and crosses the Grand Canal on a pontoon bridge (a floating bridge 400 feet long over the Grand Canal) that is there only on race day.
Then the route turns right and travels down the Grand Canal past the piazza San Marco to the Riva dei Sette Martiri in the picturesque waterfront of Venice, where the finish line is located.
Other information from the Venicemarathon official website:
Venicemarathon course difficulty
The Venicemarathon course is basically flat and fast.
There are just a few difficulties, represented by 3-4 short slopes (100 meters or so) between the 25th and 35th kilometer. In the final part of the marathon route (last 3 kilometers), runners will face 14 little bridges over Venice’s canals.
Wooden ramps are put in place to prevent athletes from running on the steps. There is no cobblestone on the course (apart from the last 100 meters before the finish line).
In the final 3 kilometres the running surface will be mainly made of large rectangular stone slabs. The course is entirely closed to traffic and marked every kilometer.
Venicemarathon maximum times
Maximum time - half marathon: 2h50'
Maximum time - Km 30: 3h55'
Maximum time - finish: 6h00'
After these times the organization cannot guarantee complete closing of the race course.
Race timing will be managed by Timing Data Service.
Thanks to the chip applied with a strap to the athlete’s ankle, sensors will record the actual time in which each athlete finishes the race.
Official Venicemarathon website: www.venicemarathon.com
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