The Venice Marathon ( it, Maratona di Venezia) (stylized as Venicemarathon) is a marathon road race that has been held each year in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

since 1986, usually in October. The course starts in Stra and passes through

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...

, , and

Ponte della Libertà The Ponte della Libertà (Liberty Bridge) is a road bridge connecting the islands that form the historical centre of the city of Venice to the mainland part of the city. Designed in 1932 by engineer Eugenio Miozzi, it was opened by Benito Mussol ...

before ending at in Venice. The marathon is categorized as a Bronze Label Road Race by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

History

The marathon was first held on , with 713 athletes. The course began in Stra and ended at Campo Santi Apostoli in Cannaregio. The race had previously been sponsored by Casino di Venezia (Venice Casino), and was known as the Casino di Venezia Venice Marathon at the time. In 2010, the competition celebrated its 25th anniversary. That year it hosted the men's Italian marathon championships, which was won by Migidio Bourifa.Sampaolo, Diego (2010-10-24)
Kenya and Ethiopia share honours in Venice Marathon
IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-24. In 2011, the course included a section in

Piazza San Marco Piazza San Marco (; vec, Piasa San Marco), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city (exc ...

for the first time. In 2012, the organizers decided to reroute the course to bypass Piazza San Marco due to the high tide in Venice. In 2017, the six leading runners lost about two minutes after mistakenly following a lead motorcycle for several hundred meters off the course about into the race. Race co-founder Enrico Jacomini explained that the lead vehicles had split off from the course as planned before it entered Venice, as it always does, since "Venice is not a city for cars or motorcycles". Local runner Eyob Ghebrehiwet Faniel ended up winning the race by roughly two minutes, becoming the first Italian to win the marathon in 22 years. In 2018, the high tide resulted in runners having to run through ankle-deep water, and forced organizers to drop Piazza San Marco from the course. Strong winds and heavy rain only exacerbated the conditions. In 2020, due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

, organizers restricted the number of participants to three: a female ultramarathon champion, a male runner on the Venicemarathon Running Team, and a Paralympic champion.https://web.archive.org/web/20201021053108/https://www.venicemarathon.it/en/news-en All other registrants were automatically transferred to a virtual edition of the race, and given the option of transferring their entry to 2021 or 2022.

Course

The marathon runs on a point-to-point course that begins at

Villa Pisani Villa Pisani at Stra refers to the monumental, late-Baroque rural palace located along the Brenta Canal ( Riviera del Brenta) at Via Doge Pisani 7 near the town of Stra, on the mainland of the Veneto, northern Italy. This villa is one of the lar ...

in Stra along the

Riviera del Brenta The Riviera del Brenta is an area of the Metropolitan City of Venice of particular tourist-cultural interest due to the great architectural heritage of the Venetian villas built between the 15th and 18th centuries by the nobles of the Venetian Rep ...

and ends on the in Venice. The first part of the course roughly follows the river eastward through

Fiesso d'Artico Fiesso d'Artico ( vec, Fieso) is a town in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, Italy. The town is connected by the SR11, and is part of the Riviera del Brenta. Fiesso d'Artico has almost reached the remarkable age of one thousand years of of ...

Dolo Dolo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, Italy. It is connected by the SP26 provincial road and is one of the towns of the Riviera del Brenta. The growth of the town of Dolo is due to the gradual downsizing of t ...

, , , and , before splitting off to the northeast to arrive at

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popular myth to come ...

for the halfway point. The marathon next heads into

, where it turns southeast to , wandering inside the park for about before crossing

, a bridge nearly long that connects the Venetian islands to the mainland. After leaving the bridge, the course heads toward the southern edge of the main island before running east along the

Giudecca Canal The Giudecca Canal ( vec, Canal de ła Zueca) is a body of water that flows into the San Marco basin in Venice, Italy. It is one of the major canals in the city, it bisects the ''sestieri'' of Dorsoduro, separating Giudecca island and district f ...

and then crossing the Grand Canal at

Punta della Dogana Punta della Dogana is an art museum in one of Venice's old customs buildings, the ''Dogana da Mar''. It also refers to the triangular area of Venice where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca Canal, and its collection of buildings: Santa Maria del ...

on a temporary

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry. ...

built specifically for the marathon. Runners then make a small loop in

, as long as the high tide permits, before continuing east along San Marco basin to finish at Riva dei Sette Martiri. As the course runs over many small canals during the last few kilometers in Venice, wooden ramps are constructed over the small bridges to prevent runners from running on the bridge steps.

Other races

A 10K covering the last segment of the marathon, from when the course leaves Parco San Giuliano (shortly before crossing Ponte della Libertà) to when the course finishes at Riva dei Sette Martiri, is held on the same day as the marathon. There are also a series of family runs, all roughly in length, that take place during the weeks before the marathon.

Winners

Since 2000, East African runners have dominated the elite races. Solomon Mutai of Uganda holds the men's record of 2:08:10 while

Helena Kirop Helena Loshanyang Kirop (born 9 September 1976) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. Her personal best for the distance is 2:23:37 hours (set in 2011) and she has won the Prague International Marathon and Venic ...

of Kenya is the women's holder with 2:23:37. Key: Course record

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{IAAF Bronze Label Sport in Venice Marathons in Italy Recurring sporting events established in 1986 1986 establishments in Italy Autumn events in Italy