The 19th Pisa Marathon took place on Sunday 17 December 2017. It was a surprisingly cold day for Tuscany, even at that time of the year, but there was little wind and it was dry and sunny, with hardly a cloud in the sky.
The course is as flat as one could wish for, with a range of just 13 m between the highest and lowest points.
And the race is on! I’m number 981 in the yellow vest (bottom left). Note the bottle of Powerade in my left hand. Those 500 ml of blood orange kept me hydrated for over half the Marathon.
Making my way through the crowd. There were 1104 starters in the Marathon, but a further 1246 participants in the Half-Marathon joined us for the first 12.5 km.
I’m getting into my stride and gradually working my way up to the cutting edge of the field.
Around the 2K mark. In the background: the Torre Guelfa, or Guelph Tower. In the foreground: a good view of the commemorative T-shirt for this year’s Maratona di Pisa.
Approaching the 5K mark: time to get serious. In the background: the picturesque Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina.
As so often happens in these smaller Marathons, the official photographers only cover the opening and closing kilometres of the race, so while there are more than a dozen photos of me near the start of the race and another dozen from the end, there are none for the stretch between 5 and 37 km. This is a pity, as the route goes through some picturesque spots. In order to find a few suitable photos to fill this lengthy gap, I have had to scour the Internet and social media.
According to the official website, there were photographers at the 12.5 K mark, where the Half-Marathon runners left us and headed back to the city. But I must have slipped under the radar. Much of the race is run out in the Pisan countryside, on the flat alluvial plain that lies between the city and the Ligurian coast.
The halfway point was in Pisa’s coastal resort of Tirrenia. I’m sure this place is buzzing with tourists during the summer months, but it was almost deserted when I ran through it.
Antonino Lollo, the winner of the men’s Marathon, runs along the seafront between Tirrenia and Marina di Pisa, around the 25K mark.
Marina di Pisa, at the mouth of the Arno, where we began to make our way back to Pisa. This is around the 30K mark.
Crossing the Arno for the last time at the Ponte della Cittadella, just after the 40K mark.
1K to go, as I turned onto the Piazza Solferino. You can’t tell, but I am clinging onto the coat-tails of a Russian athlete, Yuriy Vinogradov, who kept me honest over the last 5K.
That moment when you emerge from a deserted side street onto the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) and see the finish line.
One could hardly wish for a more spectacular setting for the finish line of a Marathon, with the Cathedral of Pisa, the Baptistery of St John and the popular Fontana dei Putti in the background.
This year they placed the finish line at the foot of the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Home at last, and another Marathon under my belt—my twenty-fourth. Roll on number twenty-five.
And finally, a big grazie to the people of Pisa, who know how to organize a Marathon. It was a bit quiet out on the course compared to, say, the Dublin Marathon, but the organization was eccellente.
My Maratona di Pisa 2017 Album
Image Credits
- 19th Maratona di Pisa: Publicity Poster, © 1063AD, Fair Use
- Course Profile: © 2018 Go & Race, Fair Use
- Via Vecchia di Marina: © 1063AD, Fair Use
- An Aerial View of Tirrenia: Wikimedia Commons, © Daniele Napolitano, Creative Commons License
- Antonino Lollo in Tirrenia: © 1063AD, Fair Use
- Marina di Pisa: © 2018 Google, Fair Use
- All other photographs are in the Public Domain: Kopimi
