The prestigious panel of companies that 'will run' alongside the 2020 Venicemarathon has been completed and registrations are in full swing.
Venice, October 14 2020 - Less than two weeks before the start of the HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon Special Edition 2020, the prestigious panel of companies and brands that have chosen to participate in this innovative integrated marketing project, which today already counts more than 3,000 registered athletes, is defined. The 2020 Venicemarathon will be an event within the event: a race in presence, the HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarahon One For All, and a virtual race, the HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon Virtual 42k & 10K. The communication project take the signature of the great American designer who recently passed away Milton Glaser, who includes the graphic image studied for the Venicemarathon 2020 among his latest works, which was then used on the official T-shirt, the medal and poster that all athletes will receive at home.
The HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarahon One For All will see three athletes (Eleonora Corradini, Gabriele Gallo and Pier Alberto Buccoliero) start together at 9.30am on Sunday, October 25 from Stra who will run the entire marathon up to Riva Sette Martiri in Venice, in representation of all those who would have liked to run the Venicemarathon, accompanied by some "pacers" who will provide assistance and a video crew who will document the live event. The HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon Virtual 42k & 10K, will instead be a distance race of 42K or 10K, in which everyone can participate, from Sunday, October 25 to Sunday, November 1.
After the important affiliation of the event by the American company, world leader in running shoes HOKA ONE ONE, which therefore also takes on the status of 'technical sponsor', Garmin returns to be part of the Venicemarathon family as 'technical timekeeper', the world leader in GPS technology for sports, fitness and the outdoors.
Companies of the caliber of BMW have also confirmed their presence as 'official car' which with its cars will follow the athletes from Stra to Venice and Alì, the important Paduan company of large-scale distribution that renews, once again, his commitment to support the Venicemarathon projects, becoming the 'main sponsor'.
Pro Action 'sport nutrition partner', San Benedetto 'official water' and Coldiretti Venezia will provide useful products for the mobile refreshment that will be provided to athletes along the way to help them hydrate and complete their marathon. Bavaria 'official beer', D-Air Lab 'safety partner', 1/6 Shop 'official shop', Nuncas 'official supplier', Méthode 'official partner' also confirmed their decisive support, providing runners with products and services.
Also of great prestige is the team of 'media partners' who will help to amplify the message and promotion. In addition to Pmg Sport, the 'official broadcaster' who will take care of the production and broadcasting of the race, the project has been joined by the authoritative sports newspapers Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport, the magazine of runners Correre, the sports economic news agency SportEconomy.it and the largest newspaper in the area Il Gazzettino.
TDS 'technological partner' will provide and manage the technology for virtual races.
The Veneto Region, the Venice Rovigo Delta Lagunare Chamber of Commerce, APVI and of course the Municipalities of Venice, Stra, Fiesso d'Artico, Dolo and Mira, the Metropolitan City of Venice, the Prefecture, the Police Headquarters, CONI, FIDAL, CIP, the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea, the Fire Brigade, the State, Road, Telecommunications, and Border Police, Carabinieri, the Municipal Police, the Civil Protection of the territory, of the Forest and Large Parks Institution support the project.
The Italian ultra-marathoner Eleonora Corradini , the runner of the Venicemarathon Team Gabriel Gallo and the Paralympic champion Pier Alberto Buccoliero of the Alex Zanardi’s team “Obiettivo3” will be the protagonists of the HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon One For All.
They will run on Sunday, October 25 from Stra to Venice, representing all the runners who would have liked to run the Venicemarathon this year.
This year the Venicemarathon, as already mentioned previously, will have a double identity. Due to the impossibility of organizing a mass event safely and to keep the tradition alive and give a sense of continuity, Venicemarathon has decided to create an event in the event : a distant race (virtual) of 42K or 10K open to all who will run from October 25 to November 1, and an exclusive race, in which the organizers have decided to select a single athlete for the men category, one for the female one and a testimonial of the Paralympic world , which on Sunday, October 25 will cross the cities of Stra , Fiesso d'Artico, Dolo and Mira, along the original route that reaches the heart of Venice, in Riva Sette Martiri , accompanied by the police, by a small group of pacers and a video crew who will document the experience live.
The idea immediately liked to the American company HOKA ONE ONE, world leader in running footwear, which give the name to the event. The two events are called: HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon One for All and HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon Virtual 42K & 10K.
The three athletes who will run a completely unusual Venicemarathon are: the Italian ultramarathon runner and champion of the 24-hour race Eleonora Corradini, the runner of the Venicemarathon Running Team Gabriele Gallo and the Paralympic champion Pier Alberto Buccoliero.
The Italian Wonder Woman Eleonora Corradini
Eleonora Corradini, born in Rome in 1991, is a woman who loves the real effort: “the more kilometers increase, the more I feel at ease”. She ran in Venice in 2017 with his father Fabio, the man who convinced her to hang her skates on the nail in 2015 and convinced her to start to run long distances. "I have wonderful memory of the Venicemarathon, because it represented the milestone in my 50th career marathon ". The Wonder Woman of Italy, renamed by the Venicemarathon staff, has raced from 2015 up till now 130 races, including marathons and ultra-marathons; in 2019 she ran for Italy at the World 24 hour-race, and last September 19-20 she became the Italian champion in the 24 hours, running 221.177 km: it is the fourth Italian performance ever! "I’m excited to return to Venice and run this specific event that will go down in history. I have not yet recovered from the great physical and mental fatigue of the 24 hours, but by October 25th I will be good. The initiative excites me because racing in this special condition, along a unique course in the world, will be truly special. I've done many strange things, but this is really all to be discovered" Eleonora Corradini is part of the team HOKA ONE ONE .
The ninth Venicemarathon for Gabriele Gallo
Gabriele Gallo, Venetian born in 1979 and cardholder for nine following years of the Venicemarathon Running Team, loves fatigue as Eleonora. On the other hand, Gallo runs in the mountains: "I like to run long trail from 40 to 80 km and I also ran ultra-marathons from 100 -120 km always in the mountains".
On the road, from 2012 up till now, Gallo has always and only raced the Venicemarathon, with a personal best on the distance of 2h46' in 2016. It will therefore be the ninth Venicemarathon for him.
“I am really happy to be part of this project and I feel very lucky. I think it's a nice initiative, it shows that even when you cannot organize mass events, you can keep alive the spirit of an event so important".
The champion and coach of Obiettivo 3 Pier Alberto Buccoliero
Even for Pier Alberto Buccoliero, Paralympic champion and member of Obiettivo 3, the Venicemarathon is the race of his heart. "When the project Obiettivo 3 was born in 2017, we have always been at the Expo Village of Venicemarathon and Alex Zanardi has always supported us to run it for the charm and the spectacular nature of its course. Last year I followed his tip and I ran in hand bike and there are no words to describe the magic of his track. I am very honored to run on Sunday 25 October in the name of all the Paralympic athletes, in the name of Obiettivo 3, and obviously in the name of Alex Zanardi ".
Pier Alberto Buccoliero, was born in 1987, he is an eclectic athlete. After being the victim of a bad accident that made him paraplegic while he was a cadet of the Naval Academy, he immediately started his sport career, at first with the Paralympic rowing, then with the paracanoe in 2012, where he won 2 world titles, 1 continental title and 26 Italian titles and then arrived in 2016 , at the paratriathlon in which he already won a silver and bronze medal in the world cup and for which he now covers the role of coach in Objective 3.
The T-Shirt, designed by the American artist Milton Glaser, will be delivered home to all registered athletes of the Venicemarathon Virtual 42K & 10K.
HOKA ONE ONE is the new title sponsor of the "Special Edition" Venicemarathon
Venice, October 2, 2020 - An excellent news arrives at Venicemarathon! The American company HOKA ONE ONE, world leader in running shoes and from this year the official Venicemarathon shoe, embraces the new Venicemarathon "Special Edition" project, becoming its title sponsor.
An important partnership, built on an integrated communication project, which involves the enhancement of the brand through direct marketing, social media marketing, digital PR & Media operations.
Venicemarathon and HOKA ONE ONE have the pleasure to present the official T-Shirt of the Venicemarathon 2020, which was created starting from the image that Milton Glaser, one of the most important contemporary graphic designers and illustrators, created for the Venicemarathon and which will remain one of his latest works. The American artist, known all over the world for the famous "I love NY" logo, passed away last June.
It is a short-sleeved T-shirt in technical material, white-coloured and with an excellent fit, with a large black V in the center, a golden M, the Winged Lion of San Marco, symbol of the City of Venice, in an athlete version with two running shoes and a red box with the author's name on their feet. This very valuable gadget will be sent home to all the registered athletes with the medal and poster.
"Being Title Sponsor of Venicemarathon Special Edition is a historic step in the HOKA ONE ONE history in Italy" - says Simone Ponziani, Owner of Artcrafts International S.p.A. (exclusive distribution company of the brand on the national territory) – It is something that honors us, for the prestige of the event and at the same time empowers us to continue to meet the expectations that runners have towards our brand. There is a need to collaborate with serious and innovative projects that respond to the need for sporting activity expressed by people, intercepting the needs of the racing movement. Venicemarathon seemed to us to be the most consistent in its goal of creating opportunities for interaction with the community of runners, pro-actively using the means currently available.”
Meanwhile, there is also some great news on the registration front. There are already over 3,000 registered athletes who, from 9 am on Sunday, October 25 to midnight on Sunday, November 1, will take part in the HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon Virtual 42K & 10K, always virtually accompanying the race of the two heroes of the "HOKA ONE ONE Venicemarathon One For All”: two athletes, representing all the entrants on Sunday, October 25, will run on the original race course from Villa Pisani (Stra) to Riva Sette Martiri in Venice.
Important partners support the "Special Edition" Venicemarathon such as: HOKA ONE ONE, Banca Ifis, BMW, Alì, Pro Action, 1/6 Sport, Corepla, Bavaria, San Benedetto, Nuncas, Regione Veneto, Il Corriere dello Sport, Tuttosport, Correre and Pmg Sport.
Venice, 1 October 2020 - The Charity Program does not stop, too! Runners who participate in the Venicemarathon Virtual 42K & 10K (from October, 25 to November, 1) will also be able to choose this year to run for a good reason, donating or buying solidarity bib numbers available by the various NPOs participating in the program, all with the claim of "Go, Alex".
Alex Zanardi has been the testimonial for over 10 years of the solidarity marathon connected to the Venicemarathon and this year his "Obiettivo 3" project will be in, above all at the wish of his wife Daniela.
Therefore, the fundraising program promoted by Venicemarathon in collaboration with Rete del Dono, which since 2014 (the project's start year) has raised almost one million euros, begins today. To participate, just enter the dedicated page on the our official website, choose the NPO to help and raise funds thanks to the generosity of friends and family, thus combining sporting action with solidarity commitment. In fact, the project is based on "personal foundraising" or the involvement of marathon runners who become ambassadors of a solidarity project and take action to raise funds
Right now, the associations that participate in the program are: AIDAP, AIRC, ANVOLT, Africa Mission, Obiettivo 3, Iside Cooperativa Sociale and Raccontiamo con Francesca.
The Venicemarathon Virtual Race 42K and 10K is a virtual race open to all. Registered athletes will have a week to make it happen: from 9 am on Sunday, October 25 until midnight on Sunday, November 1. The distance must be precise (42,195 meters or 10 km) and covered in a single time (not in stages) and the athletes can be accompanied and supported by friends, relatives and teammates always in compliance with Covid regulations. Participate in the race is very simple, just download an application that will be provided to all members by the organization. The App must be installed on your smartphone and will allow you to follow the athlete's "live tracking" even from home; it will also collect and send the performance directly to the system, which will automatically generate a ranking. On the other hand, those who do not like to run with their mobile phones can use their smartwatch and upload their performance (track with route and chronometric result) directly on the application platform.
Important partners support the event such as: Banca Ifis, Hoka One One, BMW, Alì, Pro Action, 1/6 Sport, Corepla, Bavaria, San Benedetto, Nuncas, Regione Veneto, Il Corriere dello Sport, Tuttosport and Pmg Sport.
"The secret to run a virtual race is to create a "do-it-yourself" event, helped by friends, relatives and teammates, always in compliance with Covid regulations", said Julia Jones.
The pacers of the Venicemarathon Pacing Team will be available to the registered athletes, in the next weeks, to dispense useful advice.
Venice, 29 September 2020 - On Sunday 25 October, the “Venicemarathon Virtual 42K & 10K” will take place all over the world. Everyone will choose the most suitable race course and methods, thus choosing between the application provided by the organization to record time and kilometers, or using their smartwatch and then sending all the data to the system, in order to draw up the rankings.
Running alone is not always easy, especially if the goal is to run the first marathon of your life, but Venicemarathon will try to be close to all the athletes even at this time, in different ways. Let's see which ones:
Julia Jones's Tips
"The secret to run a virtual race well - suggests the journalist, writer and coordinator of the Venicemarathon Pacing Team Julia Jones - is to create a do-it-yourself event, trying to recreate the atmosphere as much as possible of the race and therefore to involve friends, relatives and teammates, always in compliance with Covid regulations, who can encourage the athlete, help him in the refreshment stations and maybe even along the course with bicycles or by organizing a sort of relay race, where they alternate to run beside him. The Venicemarathon Virtual 42K & 10K can be run from 9am on Sunday 25 October to midnight on Sunday 1 November, but my tip is to run it on the same date and time as the Venicemathon One For All, because it is important to feel part of a event and live it as such. I therefore invite everyone to find themselves behind their ideal starting line on Sunday 25 October at 9 am and with the imagination imagine being at the starting line of the Venice Marathon. "
The Pacers
The pacers of the Venicemarathon Pacing Team will continue to be virtually active, posting training tables, dispensing tips and encouraging the athletes to finish their preparation for the Venicemarathon Vitual 42K & 10K, all through the Venicemarathon Facebook page in the "Events" section . Some of them will also be selected to accompany the two "heroes" selected to run the Venice Marathon live, or the Venicemarathon One For All, from Stra to Riva Sette Martiri. Their role will be fundamental, given the absence of public and of other competitors.
Venicemarathon Virtual Photo & Video Contest and the “virtual kit” for fans
The photo shoot will not be missing, but this time the photos will be taken by the athletes themselves or by friends, family or training partners involved in the virtual race. Thanks to the “Venicemarathon Virtual Photo & Video Contest” everyone can immortalize themselves or be immortalized during the race, and then post their photos and videos on the Venicemarathon social channels. The most voted will receive rich prizes and each athlete will have the opportunity to download the “virtual kit” for their fans.
Important partners support the event such as: Banca Ifis, Hoka One One, BMW, Alì, Pro Action, 1/6 Sport, Corepla, Bavaria, San Benedetto, Nuncas, Veneto Region, Il Corriere dello Sport, Tuttosport and Pmg Sport.
All subscribers to the VIRTUAL 42K and 10K will receive this year a special T-shirt and a medal with the image designed by the famous American artist, the digital bib number and the participation certificate. The possibility of postponing the registration to 2021 or 2022 is guaranteed.
Furthermore, all registered athletes will have the opportunity to participate in the "Venicemarathon Virtual Photo & Video Contest". To participate, they can simply immortalize their race or be immortalized by friends and relatives and then post photos and videos on the social channels of Venicemarathon. The best will receive rich prizes which will be revealed shortly. The invitation is therefore to involve friends and families to make this adventure even more exciting.
A rich and innovative program of events will replace the “live” event of the 42K and 10K, that are not able to take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
All registered runners will receive the exclusive commemorative medal, work of the famous American graphic designer Milton Glaser and the official t-shirt of the event.
Venice, September 23, 2020 - “During this hard time we worked in close and continuous contact with local authorities, health institutions and Fidal (the Italian Federation of athletics) to try and organize the event this year as our tradition saw in the past. Unfortunately, the strong concern for an epidemiological situation still in progress, especially abroad, forced us, with great regret but with a necessary sense of responsibility, to recognize the impossibility of managing in health safety the events which involved last year about 30,000 people including athletes, school children, volunteers, police forces and professionals ". These are the words of the president of Venicemarathon Piero Rosa Salva, which summarize the commitment made by the organization in such a difficult period.
On the other hand, among the 5,000 registered athletes, 1,500 would have come from abroad, with great difficulties in this particular moment and the other athletes would have arrived from the other Italian Regions, with serious problems regarding train and flight travels.
The City of Venice, thanks especially to the municipal government, has shown the world the ability to carry out, despite this difficult period, the traditionally most important events such as the International Film Festival, the Historical Regatta and many others. This is the reason why the organizers of Venicemarathon want to give a message of continuity and enthusiasm.
So, a new “Venicemarathon Special Edition” is born: from October 24 to November, 1 will take place the innovative “Venicemarathon Virtual Race 42K and 10K”, the spectacular “Venicemarathon One for All” and a congress on the problems of the sports practice during the pandemic period, thanks to the support of the Ulss 3 Serenissima and a virtual Expo Village that will host a huge interactive program.
Venicemarathon One for All
One athlete for the male category and one athlete for the female category will be draw from all registered athletes and they will have the opportunity to run for all athletes on Sunday, October 25 through the original Venicemarathon race course, from Villa Pisani (Stra) to Riva Sette Martiri (Venice). They will carry from a pacer team and a coloured caravan that will assist them along the race course, guaranteeing their safety. A video troupe will broadcast the event on Venicemarathon web and social channels, on the media partner (Corriere dello Sport, Tuttosport and Il Gazzettino) and on the international network PMG Sport.
Venicemarathon Virtual Race 42K and 10K
The other athletes of the marathon and the 10K will participate individually running through the race courses that they choose. The distance has to be precise (42.195 meters or 10km) and participant have to run once. Registered athletes will have a week to run: from 9am CEST to Sunday, October 25 to midnight of Sunday, November 1. The registration is simple: you have to download that organizers will furnish and will collect the race data. Then all athletes will receive the official results.
Moreover, local athletes will have the possibility to run the “Virtual 10K” at the San Giuliano Park only on Sunday, October 25, where there will be organize a 10K race course where athletes could run individually from 9am to 6pm CEST and where they can wait the 2 athletes who will cross the 30th kilometer of the “Venicemarathon One for All” respecting the Covid rules. All participants will receive the official T-Shirt of the event and the unique commemorative medal, designed by Milton Glaser, one of the most important graphic designer and illustrator of the contemporary era. He is famous for his logo “I LOVE NY”. Milton was a friend of Venice and one of his last work was the poster and the medal designed for the 35th Venicemarathon.
Registrations and postponements to 2021 and 2022
Organizer have established a participation limit of 5000 marathon runners and 2000 10K runners. Right now, athletes registered to the 35th Venicemarathon are 3352 for the 42K and 1198 for the 10K. registration are opened on the website www.venicemarathon.it.
All athletes who doesn’t want to participate to this special edition, could postpone their registration on 2021 or 2022. More information will be sent directly to athletes; athletes can postpone their registration on our website.
The countdown to the appointment with the Venicemarathon has started for months through the social channels of Venicemarathon. 16 weeks after the event, we get to the heart of the specific preparation to be able to run the marathon or the VM10K in complete serenity on Sunday 25 October 2020.
After taking care of the preparation from home during the lockdown, from today the "official coach" of Venicemarathon Julia Jones will coordinate the third part of the "Road to Venicemarathon" project which will consist of three different contents: the path of approach to the first career marathon of the neophyte Germana Barlocco; the preparation for the 10k race of the athlete Alice Cherciu and the training course to reach a precise chronometric goal managed by the Venicemarathon Pacing Team. The whole project is supported by UYN and HOKA One One, "technical sponsor" and "official shoes" of Venicemarathon.
Since last June 23, the "Venicemarathon Story" project has also started, a journey backwards from the 34 past editions of the Venicemarathon through photographs and videos posted directly by the participants on the Facebook page of the Venice Marathon. The first published editions have already met with great success, showing a strong affection and attachment to the event. The project also hopes to become a real celebratory event that will retrace the history of the Venice Marathon through photographs, films and memorabilia.
There is, therefore, a cautious optimism in the Venicemarathon home and the organizers are at work, in consultation with the competent authorities to identify and plan all the precautions to be implemented in order to ensure that the event takes place in maximum safety.
The Memorandum of Understanding for events’ sustainability between Venicemarathon, Veneto Region, Trenitalia Veneto, Corepla, eAmbiente Group, Coni, Fidal, T.D.S., Gruppo Veritas and Villa Pisani Museum was signed
The first step for the 35th Venicemarathon (October 25, 2020) has already worked on the environment way.
In the last days it was signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the promotion of sports events’ sustainability, that was inserted in the environmental project promoted by Veneto Region “Zero Waste Blue sport events for territorial development”, inserted in the Interreg V A Program - Italia Croazia. After the success of the 2018 and 2019 editions, the Memoandum is ready to be a model for the other marathons’ editions and also for other Venicemarathon’s events like CMP Venice Night Trail, Jesolo Moonlight Half Marathon and Alì Family Run of Chioggia, San Donà, Dolo e Mestre
The agreement was signed by Venicemarathon, Veneto Region, Corepla, Trenialia Veneto, eAmbiente, Gruppo Veritas, Polo Museale del Veneto, Villa Pisani Museum, T.D.S., Coni, Fidal.
The measures already taken by Venicemarathon will be enforced:
- CO2 decrease and mobility rationalization thanks to a more sustainable transportation studied by Veneto Region and Trenitalia;
- Recycling improvement, thanks to Veritas Group;
- Plastic reciclyng and recovery, thanks to Corepla;
- Encouragement of a sustainable tourism and accessibility improvement.
