Roughly translated by Val as: 44th Run of the New Wine and 22nd Half Marathon of the Villages
Race Date: Sunday 15th October 2017
This was a typical small Italian local race, those ones where you register on the day and where the “race pack” and final feed station are worth much more than what you paid.
Registration was 4 euros with race pack and 2 euros without. This particular race pack surely must have not been very appealing to any vegetarian as all the three products where meat based; however I don’t get to enjoy this kind of treat very often so I went for the most expensive option and flew it back with me J
I woke up to a very foggy morning and driving was pretty scary – I could not see over ten meters away! Luckily I was meeting nine running friends only a few miles from my parents’ house and managed to jump in someone else’s car to reach our destination.
Three more friends joined us in Salgareda; by the time we got there the fog had started to raise and it was completely gone, sunny and warm when we started.
There was a choice of 5, 10 and 21km routes and we covered them all among the thirteen of us! Quite a few of my friends are tapering for the Venice Marathon next Sunday so that was their last long run. (Racing the week before a marathon? ed)
All the three courses were flat and quiet, almost entirely traffic free even though roads had not been closed; the route was marked and marshalled and there were feed stations with water, hot and cold tea and some proper food. It was held in the countryside in between vineyards. I even heard someone saying it was slightly undulating but don’t believe those who have not visited Sheffield yet! It was pancake flat!
Not chip timed, not recorded on anything and no photographed either pretty much this race could have never happened lol – well I wish it didn’t for me anyway as I had a terrible run, even though the race itself was really nice.
On the bright side our friend Stefano placed third man in 1h 13’ and won a massive shopping bag filled with delicious food including a magnum bottle of prosecco which he very kindly offered to open with us and we promptly shared and enjoyed in the car park next to the start/finish point.
The prosecco flows but was Sheffield warmer than Italy yesterday?
Looked around but couldn’t see any other Strider…so you will have to take my word on my 1h 37’ finish time. (Very honest to admit this Val when you could have quite simply lied. ed.)
We then all went for a seafood meal in a yummy restaurant/inn and we refuelled our body with delicious food until about 4pm.
Valeria Gasparini
As Val says, no sign of any results on the website.