The winners are the Kenyan Mukun and the Ethiopian Makda Haji
The Kenyan Simon Kamana Mukun won the 25th edition of Venicemarathon - Casinò of Venice Trophy in 2h09’35”, the second place went to the Kenyan Sahle Warga Betona in 2h09’47” who slipped and fall on the third bridge before the finish line giving the victory to Mukun.Third place to Peter Muriuki Nderitu with a delay of 1’17” who closed the race in 2h10’52”.
Venicemarathon was valid also for the Italian Championship and it was assigned to Migidio Bourifa (Atl. Valle Brembana) who classified 9th on the general ranking list in 2h15’18”.

In the women race it is the first time that an Ethiopian runner Makda Harun Haji won our marathon and she closed the race in 2h28’08. The second place went to Elizabeth Chemweno in 2h29’21” and the third one went to the Russian athlete Elena Ruhliada with a time of 2h30’41”
The Italian Championship in the women race went to Marcella Mancini who closed her 42,195 km at the sixth place in 2h37’23”.

The 6.519 starters due to the high water were not able to go through St. Mark’s Square. At 7:30 a.m. the final decision to choose the contingency plan which was the one without the passing through St. Mark’s Sq. and the insertion of another part of the course just outside the San Giuliano Park. Also the second course is AISM/IAAF certified. The dream of running through St. Mark’s Sq. has just been postponed to next edition which will take place in 23rd October 2011.

THE NUMBERS

Registered athletes: 7,000
Starting runners: 6,519
Total Finishers: 6,253:
Women who finished the race: 998 (1 wheelchair athlete)
Exposport is open: three days will be full of fun and sport
A beautiful sunny day warmed the official opening of the Exposport -the Fair of Tourism and Leisure Time of the 25th Venicemarathon at the San Giuliano Park. Special Guest for the third consecutive year, the Paralympic Champion Oscar Pistorius, who landed from South Africa just few minutes before the celebration.

The first to welcome sponsors, authorities, friends and visitors at the Exposport was Piero Rosa Salva the Honorary President of Venicemarathon: “This Venicemarathon edition is a very special one. 25 years are a lot and we wanted to remember them all exposing the 25 commemorative t-shirts of each year. This is the history of our marathon and for me 25 years of great emotions”.

Enrico Jacomini, President of Venicemarathon, wanted to stress the contemporary opening of the Open Sport. This event was born by an idea of the regional Committee of the CONI but organized by the Venetian section. “There are 18 Federations working to promote sports in our territory and thousands of children practice sport and enjoy it”.

Gianfranco Bardelle, President of the CONI regional Committee, wanted to emphasize the fellowship with the Marathon of Venice: “Venicemarathon is the only marathon which gives the chance to other sports to be known and which believes in sport for all youngers. This is very important for the society”. At the opening another important person of the Venice City Council was present: the Sport Assessor Andrea Ferrazzi: “In 25 years this marathon was born, grew and has become an international appointment for many. This is a unique event for our City Council, a multiplier for all resources of the town as all the town take part in it”.

The last one to give his welcome was Oscar Pistorius: “This is the third year that I came at the Venicemarathon and to be here on the occasion of its 25th anniversary is a great pleasure for me. I am not a marathoner but a sports man and here you can find always many young people. I am the testimonial of “Venice Accessible – the barriers are overcome just by running” and I will run the Family Run on Saturday morning, there will be many wheelchair athletes….therefore these three days will be a time to do sports and have fun”.

Also Exposport celebrates a great goal – 20th edition – it will be as always the heart of all marathon activities and the meeting point for all marathoners. Here besides getting the bib numbers athletes will have the chance to know the last novelties on the running world. The exhibition is an area of 12.000 sqm and over 100 exhibitors will show their products and services to over than 50 thousands visitors.
Next Sunday the 25th Venicemarathon will take place
Venicemarathon celebrates its 25th anniversary and on Sunday 24th October it will celebrate it with a special and unique edition in the history of the event. For the first and unique time the race course that starts from Villa Pisani in Stra and reaches Riva Sette Martiri  in Venice will pass through Piazza Ferretto in Mestre and through the famous St. Mark’s Square in Venice. This is a special gift that the Organizing Committee has prepared for all the 7,000 participants that will take part to this special edition.

Among the foreigners there could be a great duel among Tujuba Megersa Beyu and the Kenyan Peter Some Kimeli (winner of the Roma – Ostia 2010) and Paul Kimeli Samoei (2nd place in 2009 at Venicemarathon) and Chebon William Chebor, winner of the last Half Marathon in Udine held at the end of September in 1h00’49”.
In the women section the duel will be among the African Runners thanks to Anne Keptanui Bererwe and Elisabeth Cheruiyot Chemweno (whose best personal times are 2h28’22” for the first and 2h28’55” for the second one) who will try to beat the Ethiopian Shuru Diriba and Makda Harun Haji (2h28’26” and 2h29’56”). Let’s put a special eye on Everline Kemunto at her debut on the marathon distance who has already run 5 half marathons sub 1h 10’ with a personal best time of 1h08’39”.

The marathon will be live broadcasted by RAI on Rai Sport 1 (DVB-T) and recorded on Rai International. Three are the starts: top runners of the female section, whellchair athletes and top runners of the men section with all the other runners. The start of the first group is scheduled at 9.20 a.m.
Venicemarathon is sold out

After the great success of the purchasing of the regular bib numbers which were all been assigned within the month of April, Venicemarathon put at athletes’ disposal special and charitable bib numbers which were sold out just in few weeks. Venicemarathon 2010 therefore is sold out.

We suggest athletes still interested in taking part in our marathon to contact the Tour Operators in their country to check if they still have bib numbers available: take a look at the “official agents’ section”.

For inexperienced runners is also still possible to enter the program My First Marathon which gives marathoners the possibility of training in a proper way and reserves them special areas and special services to better live the marathon experience.

The regular 6,000 bib numbers are sold out
The 25th Venicemarathon - Trofeo Casinò di Venezia – marks the first important result of this special edition. The last number of the traditional 6,000 bib numbers that the Organizing Committee puts at athletes’ disposal has been assigned this morning. In fact the participant cap due to the physical limitations of the last part of the course and to the choice of offering athletes good services has already been reached. The novelty of the passing of the race course through Saint Mark’s Square - the present that the Organizing Committee has planned for the participants at the 25th Venicemarathon – has been going around the world and in few months the 6,000 available bib numbers have been assigned.

“6,000 participants already registered six months before the event confirm the planetary success of Venicemarathon” these are the words of Piero Rosa Salva – promoter of the marathon 25 years ago – “This is an important goal in a difficult moment due to the economic crisis and to the increasing of the number of marathons in the calendar. All Venicemarathon staff will do the best to make all marathoners live an extraordinary 25th edition of the unique marathon in the world.”

Therefore on Wednesday 5th May, from 12:00, the online selling of the 1,000 special bib numbers will start. This choice has been taken thanks to the great request both from national and foreign runners and these 1,000 numbers will be divided in equal part between foreigners and Italians. They will cost 20 Euros more than the basic fee as the difference will be donated to two important social projects that Venicemarathon has been supporting for years.

As it happened last year 500 bib numbers will be assigned to help the creation of prosthesis for children, thanks to the project “Bimbingamba” supported by Alex Zanardi.
“I am very happy that Venicemarathon is having such success" – reported the ex-pilot of Formula 1 – "and I am even more happy to know that the Organizers have decided to repeat the beautiful effort of last year which allow the creation of prosthesis and the complete assistance to 7 children, coming from different parts of the world. I will be there to run, but especially to thank all athletes who have decided to run for this special purpose.”

The other 500 numbers will be devoted to ‘Run For Water, Run For Life’ to the digging of other drinking water wells in Uganda. Since 2006 the NGO Africa Mission – Cooperazione e Sviluppo, promoter of the project, has dug 7 water wells and has renewed 3 water wellsprings supplying drinking water to over 9,000 people. This was possible thanks to the fund raising supported by Venicemarathon.

The engagement for social purposes has been double this year and this shows that Venicemarathon is not only a run but an event with a big heart. Also the two Family Runs, the non competitive races of 4 km which will take place in the Parco San Giuliano in Mestre and in Dolo at the Marathon Eve will have special numbers supporting the marathon social projects.

If these last 1,000 bib numbers follow the selling trend of the traditional bib numbers, the registrations will be completely closed in a two-week-time, marking an incredible success for Venicemarathon and for all Italian marathons. On the official web site of the event, www.venicemarathon.it, it will be possible to check day after day the amount of the numbers still available thank you to the counter marking the count-down.
A new drinking water well in Uganda has just been inaugurated!

Students of the primary school of Loputuk (10 km south-east of Moroto, capital town of the region of Karamoja in northeastern Uganda) will not have to do more miles with heavy tanks to get the most valuable good in the world – the water – thanks to the Venicemarathon new drinking water well dug in collaboration with Africa Mission – Cooperazione e Sviluppo. This was made possible thanks to the considerable and diversified fundraising campaign promoted during the marathon of last year. The sending of text messages, the fees sent with the registration fees by the Venicemarathon participants and by the two Family Run-ones, the selling of special bracelets and t-shirts at the Exposport, the sale by auction of Alex Zanardi’s race tracksuit, the donations of the Protezione Civile della Provincia di Venezia, of the bikers group "Ancient Dragons" and of the firm "Bullo Tecnologie e Servizi" – the company which covers the bridges in the Venetian course with special wooden ramps to allow athletes with disabilities to take part in the race – allow Venicemarathon and Africa Mission – Cooperazione e Sviluppo to dig a well in a very dry region of Africa that will supply over 100 primary school pupils and 700 inhabitants of the village with drinking water.

This is how the marathon of solidarity started last 2006 by the Venicemarathon is going on. In fact thanks to the project Run for Water, Run for Life from 2006 till now 7 drinking water wells have been dug and 3 water wellsprings have been renewed in Uganda to supply over 9,000 people with water. It is estimated that with the donations raised in 2009 it will be possible to dig one other water well which will be done shortly.

In the meanwhile, the marathon has started the bib number-countdown for its special edition which will take place next 24th October and over 3,000 participants have already got their number of the 6,000 available ones. After the piece of news that the race course will go through Saint Mark’s Square a lot of athletes have requested a place, especially foreign runners, as they do not want to miss this unique edition. Since last week on the official website the countdown has been activated, it will help marathoners to check the number of the bibs still available displaying the number of the bibs to be assigned. As it happened last year, the Organizing Committee envisages an early closure of the registrations.

Venicemarathon goes through St.Mark's Square!

A few rumors were already circulating the day after the 2009 Venicemarathon, but only now we are able to confirm it officially: the route of the next Venicemarathon will go through St.Mark's Square. A.S.D. Venicemarathon Club recently received approval from the City Council to go across the magnificent square that is the very heart of the lagoon town.

The Technical Direction of the marathon is already at work to study the alterations to the route that will be necessary to make the spectacular passage inside the square possible, a passage that will only occur in 2010, for the Special Edition of the 25th Anniversary.

About 1 km after the exit from St.Mark's Square the runners will reach the Venicemarathon finish line, located - as always - in "Riva Sette Martiri".

However, the marathon route could change not only in its lagoon sector, but also in the Venetian mailand. In agreement with the town administration, in fact, we are evaluating a solution that will enable the course to pass through Piazza Ferretto as well. Piazza Ferretto, located in the heart of Mestre, is the "mainland counterpart" of the more famous Piazza San Marco.