Ruggero Pertile wins the won the Sant’Antonio Marathon in Padua in 2:11:17 (© loc)
Local favourite Ruggero Pertile won the Sant’Antonio Marathon from Vedelago to Padua in 2:11:17 clinching the Italian title over the distance on a very warm day with temperatures rising to 25° degrees during the morning. The difficult weather conditions in the final part of the race dashed hopes of a sub 2:10 finish.
The victory was taken ahead of Kenyan Henry Serem (2:12:36) and Italy’s former New York marathon winner Giacomo Leone who showed a good return to form finishing in third place in 2:12:59 after two difficult years.
In the women's race, Marcella Mancini won her second Padua Marathon notching up the Italian national title in 2:34:51 ahead of defending national champion Ivana Iozzia (2:36:15) and Romina Sedoni (2:40:18).
MEN’s race
Thanks to the consistent pace making of Angelo Carosi the race passed through 10 km in 30:47, but the speed was then upped by two kenyans Stephen Rugut and James Kwambai who injected a fast km split in 3:00 between the 14 km and the 15 km (46:10).
By 18km, six men formed the leading group. Favourites Ruggero Pertile and Francesco Pertile from Italy and Henry Serem from Kenya (PB 2:10:04) ran at the front with the two pacemakers Kwambai and Rugut, while Giacomo Leone, who ran alone from the beginning of the race, chased the leading group 20 seconds behind.
The halfway mark was reached in 1:04:57 in line with the time planned on the eve of the marathon with the aim of finishing under the 2:10 barrier.
Kwambai and Pertile continued to dictate the pace at 30km (1:32:16), while Serem seemed to be struggling. One km later Kwambai dropped out and Pertile was left as the only man in the lead.
The warm weather made the task very tough for Pertile who ran three consecutive kilometres in 3:10 after the 30km. The Italian’s pace slowed the pace but he managed to maintained a solid margin of 30 seconds over Serem and 1:15 over Leone.
Pertile admitted after the race that he suffered from cramps but his win was no longer under threat because he increased his gap on the fading Serem to 1 minute with two kilometres to go.
But as the winner confirmed, the strong support from his local “fan club” pushed him along in the final metres when he entered in the big square Prato della Valle.
“I was nervous on the eve of this marathon. I wanted to do well in front of my fans. I want to thank my local athletics club Assindustria Padova and my employers who have always supported me and enabled me to become a full-time athlete”, said Pertile, who worked part-time at the Alì Supermarket chain for many years before becoming a professional athlete after winning the 2004 Rome marathon.
Pertile, who is coached by former marathon runner Massimo Magnani, has competed in two editions of the World Championships in Paris and Helsinki and more recently lowered his half marathon PB to 62:39 at this year’s Stramilano.
“Ruggero can run under 2:09. He has not fulfilled his true potential yet because he has not found the perfect race. He tried to run under 2:10 last year in Otsu bt it was too windy”, said Massimo Magnani.
Pertile, who was born in Villanova di Camposampiero near Padua, won the Rome Marathon in 2004 (2:10:12) and has been one of the most consistent Italian runners in recent years. His victory booked a well-deserved berth for the European Championships in Gothenburg but he admitted at the end of the race that he has to decide yet whether to compete in Sweden this summer.
WOMEN’s race
Former Rome Marathon winner Gloria Marconi took the early lead, building up a gap of 1:00 over Marcella Mancini and 1:06 over Ivana Iozzia. Marconi, an athlete from Florence with a PB of 2:29:53, seemed to be well in control of the race after clocking 1:15:16 at halfway at a 3:31 per km.
However, at 25km her pace began to fade, and she ran the last 10km split in 36:35, and Marcella Mancini closed the gap on her dramatically between 25 and 28 km to just 10 seconds. She continued to push the pace and overhauled Marconi who was forced to drop out at 29km.
At 35 km Iozzia gained seven seconds on Mancini. However, this was not enough to threaten Mancini who regained a solid gap on Iozzia in the final 2 kilometres.
“When I saw that Marconi was slowing down, I found extra energy to push the pace and win the race. Everything was perfect apart from the very warm weather which affected my final time”, said Mancini.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
RESULTS
Men
1 Ruggero Pertile (Italy) 2:11:17
2 Henry Serem (Kenya) 2:12:36
3 Giacomo Leone (Italy) 2:12:59
4 Ahmed Nasef (Morocco) 2:14:50
5 Francesco Bennici (Italy) 2:16:18
6 Abdelhadi El Hachimi (Morocco) 2:17:31
Women
1 Marcella Mancini (Italy) 2:34:51
2 Ivana Iozzia (Italy) 2:36:15
3 Romina Sedoni (Italy) 2:40:18
4 Giuseppina Menna (Italy) 2:43:44
5 Renata Antropik (Poland) 2:46:17
