Althoughin a situation regulated by precise rules, the fall of competition has begun.
We were all in doubt, let’s be honest, the situation has been uncertain throughout the spring, and those who, in the past few months, signed up for a few races did so with a question mark and the long-awaited phrase “let’s hope well.”
In May there had been the Milan Marathon, almost a white fly in the competitive calendar of big races, but now-after the Run Rome The Marathon-we have to admit that there is a certain relaxation in entering our credit card numbers to buy a bib number.
Credit to the organizers who believed in it all along, credit to those who – by vaccinating themselves – helped contain the darn infections. And not just to run again.
Of course, let’s be honest, irresponsible behavior devoid of common sense has been seen quite a few, unfortunately, in the past few months. But thanks to everyone’s contribution, we are taking one more step toward returning to normalcy.
Well done everyone!
The big ones are all there. What about the others?
Milan, Rome, Venice, Bologna, Florence (in no particular order) are there. It is certainly thanks to important and efficient organizational structures, substantial sponsors; to many people who have gone forward even in the most complicated times. Smaller, local races, tapas races, struggle a bit more. And I think it’s understandable.
In some ways this is good.
Personally, I prefer a smaller number of events where safety regulations can be enforced in a more timely manner, rather than seeing the dispersion of efforts in an overly dense calendar of events as in past years. But here is a problem also related to the Federations (there is not only FIDAL) that should manage the list of races more efficiently, avoiding cannibalization of one event over another. How many times did it happen to us that we didn’t know where to register because we had too many races around us?
After all, the race is not just the piece of asphalt we run, there is a world around it, and with “richer” events, we runners can access better, more efficient services. And the result is only one: we enjoy the experience more.
Instead of seeing a scenario where each society organizes its own race, why don’t we join together to create bigger events, reduce efforts and increase quality? After all, we should all be pushing in the same direction instead of each thinking of his or her own little garden.
We don’t need races every week, we need better races.
(Main image credits: halfpoint on DepositPhotos.com)