Paul Kipkemboi Ngeny winning in Florence (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
The Florence Marathon celebrates its 25th edition on Sunday 30 November. Organizers announced that 9075 runners from 60 countries will take part in the annual Tuscan marathon this year. This figure breaks last year’s record of participants to make it one of the most popular Italian marathon events which is growing every year.
This year the men’s race will feature a battle between former Kenyan runner Francis Kirwa, who switched citizenship becoming Finnish after moving to Finland in 2001 and some of his former compatriots including Stephen Kibiwott, Jackson Kirwa, John Birgen and Paul Ngeny.
34-year-old Kirwa won the Maratona Sant’Antonio last April in 2:11:01. Thanks to this result Kirwa booked his berth on the Finnish team for the Olympic Games in Bejing where he finished 17th in 2:14:22.
Stephen Kibiwott is a well-known name in Italy as he took two wins in the Turin Marathon in 2006 and 2008. In the last Turin race Kibiwott improved his PB to 2:10:10. This year Kibiwott finished fourth at the World Half Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro and ran a remarkable 59:44 in the half-marathon in Lille.
Jackson Kirwa will make his debut over the marathon distance after running some good performances in the half-marathon. He improved his PB to 60:52 in Lille in 2007 and finished second in the Stramilano Half-Marathon in 61:17 in the same year. This year he finished sixth in the Paris Half-Marathon in 61:14.
John Birgen made a major impact in 2003 when he won the Milano City Marathon in 2:09:08 but later his career came to a halt by a series of injuries. Birgen made his comeback in 2007 when he finished second in Milan.
Defending champion Paul Ngeny will return to Florence one year after his surprising win in the 2007 edition in his PB of 2:12:50.
The only Ethiopian runner in the field will be Sefu Fekene who finished fourth at the Abebe Bikila Marathon in June, which was contested at the high altitude of Addis Ababa (2500m).
Experienced Migidio Bourifa will carry the major Italian hopes. Bourifa, a 39-year-old runner of Moroccan origin who lives near the northern Italian town of Bergamo, set his PB of 2:09:07 when he finished third in Paris in 2002. He won the Italian title in Rome in 2007 in 2:10:30.
Domestic battle awaits in the women's race
The women’s race should be a battle between some of the best Italian runners. Giovanna Volpato returns to marathon running after being sidelined by a series of injuries after the World Championships in Osaka last year. Volpato, who ran her PB of 2:28:59 in Treviso in 2006, finished eighth at the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2:32:04 contributing to the European team title for Italy.
Volpato will face 40-year-old Ornella Ferrara, who is a former World marathon bronze medallist from Gothenburg 1995. Ferrara, who won major Italian marathons during her career in Venice (1994), Carpi (2000), Rome (2004) and Brescia (2008), ran three marathons this year finishing 11th in Dubai (2:37:40), first in Brescia (2:34:48) and seventh in Frankfurt (2:32:17).
Marcella Mancini, a former Italian marathon champion in Padua in 2006, won the Maratona di Sant’Antonio in Padua three times and finished runner-up in Florence in 2004 and Milan in 2007.
A surprise could come from 23-year-old Ethiopian Elfenesh Melaku who finished third in this year’s Abebe Bikila Marathon. The line-up is completed by 38-year-old Dutch Kristijna Loonen who ran her lifetime best of 2:33:05 in Rotterdam in 2005.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
