Shami versus Kipkoech in Sunday's Venice Marathon

Defending champion Raymond Chemwelo Kipkoech and the emerging road running star Hassan Mubarak Shami of Qatar, silver medallist at the World Half Marathon Championships in Edmonton, are the top contenders for this weekend's Venice Marathon, which is set to celebrate its 20th edition on Sunday, 23 October.

Men's race

Shami, the former Kenyan Richard Yatich, stamped his emergence as a name for the future in long distance running in Edmonton earlier this month when he was narrowly edged for the title by 19-year-old Tanzanian Fabiano Joseph on the cold and rainy day in Edmonton. Shami raised his arms in celebration a few metres from the finish line, a mistake that cost him the race. Nonetheless, Shami clocked a Qatari national record of 1:01:09, a solid performance considering the conditions, and showed that he possesses the potential to challenge the best in the world. In 2005, Shami, who is coached by the experienced Turin coach Renato Canova, won the Vienna Marathon in May in 2:12:20 in his debut over the distance.   

Kipkoech produced the highlight of his career in September 2002 when he ran an impressive lifetime best of 2:06:47 on the flat and fast Berlin Marathon course. Since then, a series of injuries have slowed his progress but he showed solid return to form last year in Venice when he claimed a very narrow victory over Italian Danilo Goffi. After a breathtaking neck and neck battle over Venice's famous Ponte della Libertà - the Bridge of Freedom - linking suburban Mestre to Venice, Kipkoech prevailed over the Italian by just one second in 2:09:54, a sound performance considering the challenging final portion of the course that crosses 13 bridges of the worldwide famous Italian city. This year, Kipkoech ran 2:09:49 in Xiamen, China, on 26 March, a season's best over the distance.

Other Kenyans in Sunday's field include David Kirui (PB 2:08:53), winner in Los Angeles last year; Wilson Chelal (second in Eindhoven 2003 in a PB 2:09:06); 22-year-old Paul Lokira and John Ngeno who finished first and third respectively in Padua last April.

This year's marathon also incorporates the World Military Championships in the event. Some of the top Italian runners, who compete for the strongest national military teams, will compete for the World military title. The most prominent names are Denis Curzi of the Carabinieri Bologna, the winner of the 2005 Treviso Marathon in 2:11:37, and Francesco Ingargiola, who produced a PB 2:08:49 when finishing third in the 2000 Millennium Marathon in Rome. He is a two-time winner of the World military title, in Rome in 1995 and in Palermo in 2003. In all, 18 countries will take part in the World Military Championships.

Javornik looking for 10th career win - women's race

The experienced Helena Javornik from Slovenia, the 2002 European cross country champion, will aim for the tenth marathon win of her career. Javornik set the national record in 2004 with her win in the Amsterdam marathon, clocking 2:27:33. Last March, the 39-year-old finished third in Seoul, with a season's best 2:29:18.

Ethiopia will be represented by Leila Aman, last year's Prague winner in 2:31:48, and Dire Tune, who represented the east African powerhouse at this year's World Championships in Helsinki.  

Italian interest is focused on Deborah Toniolo, third in the Milano City Marathon last year and first Italian finisher at the World Half Marathon Championships (23rd), and Marcella Mancini, fourth last spring in Turin.
 
A fascinating course

The race will start in Stra, a small town a few kilometres east of Padua. Runners will cross the flat course in front of the Villa Pisani, a monumental mansion on the Brenta riverside. The course then winds through the small towns of the Venetian Riviera: Flesso D'Artico, Dolo, Mira and Oriago. At this point runners will head towards the Marghera industrial area before entering the centre of Mestre. After a five kilometre stretch through the heart of Mestre, the course crosses the five kilometre Ponte della Libertà where the race for victory has traditionally been decided. On the bridge, the fascinating Venetian skyline appears on the horizon. After crossing the Ponte della Libertà, runners have still to cross the demanding 13 bridges in the heart of Venice, dominated by St. Mark's Square, a test of strength and stamina for the remaining two kilometres. Venice has become one the most popular Italian marathons over the past several years; this year, 6,500 runners from around the world will take part.

A celebration of twenty years

The Venice Marathon tradition began in 1985, thanks primarily to the initiative of Piero Rosa Salva with the important support of the late IAAF President Primo Nebiolo, who were the first men who believed in the fascinating idea to create a popular marathon race in Venice after the unprecedented boom experienced by marathon running in Italy following the two consecutive wins of Orlando Pizzolato in New York in 1984 and 1985.

Italians grabbed the headlines in the first editions. Salvatore Bettiol, fifth at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and now a coach of the top Italian marathoner Bruna Genovese (winner in Tokyo 2005), claimed victory in the first edition on 18 May 1985. The race was later moved to October. Italian runners won again from 1987 and 1990, with Bettiol winning again in 1987, Orlando Pizzolato in 1988, and in 1990 by Seoul Olympic champion Gelindo Bordin, who crowned a spectacular season in Venice after winning the Boston Marathon and the European championship in Split.

Italy maintained its tradition in Venice through the mid-nineties. In 1995 Danilo Goffi set  a course record of 2:09:26 which remained unbeaten until 2002 when David Makori, a Kenyan coached by Renato Canova, ran 2:08:48 to beat Martin Lel, who later went on to win in  New York in 2003 and in London in 2005. In the 1995 edition, the future Olympic champion Stefano Baldini finished sixth in his debut over the 42.195 km distance.

Kenya dominated from 1997 to 2004. The lone exception came in 2003, when Moroccan-born El Hassan Lasshini of France halted the Kenyan streak. Another major name to emerge in Venice was that of Abdelkader El Mouaziz, who was runner-up in 1996. He went on to win twice in London (1999 and 2001) and in New York (2000).

Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF