Hundreds of athletes from all over Italy and 15 foreign countries showed up at dawn on Sunday 17 September at the Villaggio della Salute Più, in the municipality of Monterenzio (BO), for the third edition of the Bologna Marathon in Trail.
On a hot and sunny day at the end of summer, the participants put themselves to the test on completely new routes of 43, 30, 15 and 6 km, immersed in a wild and fascinating landscape typical of the Bolognese Apennines.

In the "ultra" distance Marco Piccardi, of the Runaway Milano team, left no room for his opponents, closing his race in 03h54', a truly incredible time given the more than 1400 meters of difference in altitude and the technical nature of the route. Maggi Marco, of the Mud & Snow team, came second with a time of 04h10', trailing Dario Menegon of Duerocche Asd by almost 15', with a time of 4h25'.
The first woman of the 43K, seventh overall for this distance, was the American Randolph Jenna Marie who, with a time of 5:00h, trailed Dinahlee Calzolari, of the Mud & Snow team, by 19' and Lorena Brusamento by 31' . It is worth underlining the very good performance of Calzolari who, if she had not covered almost 2 km more due to a small group of runners leaving the track, she could have competed for the first step of the podium with Randolph.

The 30 km had 2 absolute dominators: Leonardo Barioni, first in 02h38'36", and Alice Guerra, already winner of the 2022 edition, who in 02h42'03", placed second overall and first woman.
Riccardo Ottaviani and Francesco Gotti conquered the men's podium, respectively with times of 2h:52'28" and 3h02'23". For the women the gap from the phenomenal Alice was much wider: after about 54 minutes she crossed the finish line Debora Garzillo in 03h36'37" and followed by Paola Gelli in 03h39'11".

Much more intense fight over the 15 km where in the end Ilario Domenico Perilli won in 1h20'02" trailing Antonio Pirone (Pod.Pontelungo Bologna) by just 9", Daniele Baroni (alt Rimini Nord Santarcangelo) by 28" and 31” Jacopo Balerna (Passo Capponi).
In the women's field, victory for Isabella Morlini (atl. Reggio) fifth overall with a time of 01h22'38" followed by Donatella Acciaro (Pod.Pontelungo Bologna) in 01h30'16" and by Vanessa Ganci (team Mud & Snow) in 01h36' 06".

During the awards ceremony, which saw the participation of Prof. Monti and the General Director Prantoni of the Monti Salute Più Group together with the President of CSI Bologna and the National Vice President of CSI Andrea De David, the regional and provincial trophies of the CSI championship, which saw the new regional champions Silvia Navacchia and Federico Biondi (both from the Rubicone For Sport team) climb onto the first step of the podium.

In addition to the almost 300 athletes in the competitive races, around 200 tried their hand at motor games: the 15 km registered numerous participants in their first trail experience and the 6 km saw the joyful participation of walkers, families and children.

“We are happy to bring more and more people closer to trail running and we are confident that this type of event, where the competitive component merges with the more intimate challenge between man and territory, will be increasingly popular. — declares Fabio Cavallari, communication and marketing manager of the organization — We were very impressed by the excellent results of the first athletes who crossed the finish line, but, at the same time, we were amazed and warmed by the tenacity of many participants, including the 'last finisher, welcomed by everyone at the finish line with a big celebration, almost 9 hours after her start'.

Also the achievement of Davide Crescenzo, aka @Crashots, a runner for less than a year who, after having crossed the finish line of the first Marathon last March in Bologna, took part in his first 43 km trail, winning with effort, sweat and a lot of sympathy, the Finisher medal in 07h01'.
@Crashots, which you can follow on Instagram and on the @BolognaMarathon channels, is confirmation that you can take part in events and experience this beautiful sport, without being intimidated by the performances of the elite elite or by the stopwatch, but only for the pleasure of running .

The Bologna Marathon party continued until late afternoon, thanks to DJ Lopez of Radio Bruno and the histrionic speaker Veronica Bellandi Bulgari who set the pace for the entire race.
In addition to the numerous services, the pasta & pizza party, the beer offered to the finishers, the Villaggio della Salute Più presented itself to the runners in its maximum splendor, with all the pools in the park open, an opportunity taken advantage of by many at the end of the race.
The rich refreshments, with dried fruit from Eurocompany, the shortbread from Tre Marie and the Natural Powerbar from L'Angelica, the bubbles from Bubble World, which invaded the participants at the start and finish, and the ice cream offered to everyone by Sammontana made this wonderful day even more exciting.

An event which, after three years, is growing and becoming a point of reference for Bologna and its province and an unmissable stop for those who love running in the mountains and the Apennines, thanks to the vision of the organizers and the hard work of those behind the scenes.

“There are always aspects to improve when you create something new. And this event has been particularly complex, starting with the move last May. Just thinking back to what happened a few months ago in these places and on these paths can give you an idea of how much work we did for days and days to secure and clean the paths. - says Riccardo Marini, technical director and "tracker", together with Andrea Rossi, of the races - We must sincerely thank the Alpine Rescue, who today gave a big hand along the 43 km of the race, all the volunteers, present for many hours in the refreshment stands and on the course, as well as those involved in the race office and in the start and finish area. Finally, thanks to the entire Bologna Sport Marathon team, who has put their usual energy into this project and is already preparing for the Marathon on 3 March 2024.”

So let's meet at the Bologna Marathon 2024, registration is open and there are already numerous members!