Italy: Rome hosts 27th international Rome marathon

Rome: The eternal Italian city of Rome hosted over 11 thousand runners, including 5 thousand foreign runners from 102 countries for the 27th International Rome Marathon on Sunday.

Ethiopian runners Bekele Fikre Tefera and Dalasa Sechale Adugna won the 27th International Rome Marathon, an annual run at the Italian capital Rome.

Italian media reported that athlete Tefera broke the record of the Marathon with 2 hours 6 minutes and 48 seconds.

The record belonged to the Kenyan athlete Benjamin Kiptoo Kolum with 2 hours 7 minutes and 18 seconds in 2009.

Foreign runners, as well as locals, joined the Acea Run Rome the Marathon, the Charity Relay Acea Run4 Rome and the popular Fun Race. The latter returns on site for the first time in the post-pandemic era, but runners took part in virtual mode from all over Italy. The race started from Fori Imperiali at 8.30. Runners run around Rome for 42 km alongside the Tiber, source of life and symbol of this edition, which is featured on the medal and on the official t-shirt.

There were 2417 women entered in the marathon, more than 22% of all participants. Although the pandemic is not over yet and there are still many restrictions to travel, 5 thousand foreign runners from 102 countries representing all continents took part in the Acea Run Rome Marathon. Italy was the most represented country with 5827 participants, followed by France (909 runners), the United Kingdom (693) and Spain (455). The United States was ranked just behind and is first among non-European countries with 330 participants. 49 Ukrainian runners registered. Only a few of them were able to be at the start line.