Listen to “S02E35: The 100 Km of the Passatore” on Spreaker.
Last Saturday, May 22, there was a decidedly special edition of the Passatore in Imola: the traditional race that has been run between Florence and Faenza since 1973 was, for well-known reasons, held inside the Imola Autodrome.
At the start at 10 a.m. there were 330 competitors, both men and women, and in front of them a 4,909-meter-long car circuit to be repeated 20+1 times (the +1 is due to the fact that the last lap was slightly shorter to fit into the official 100km), perfect weather and an equally pleasant temperature suitable for the feat.
The unprecedented and alienating situation dominated everything: doing 100 km repeating the same route 21 times is not the same as running on a street and city circuit where the scenarios change and with them the landmarks. Being overwhelmed by alienation and the “hamster effect” is a factor to be reckoned with for sure, and certainly those who made it to the end mastered it well, crowning a very thorough physical and especially mental preparation.
Of the original Passatore, there were the distance and the evocation of the places crossed by the real race (announced to runners with “Welcome to Fiesole” or “Brisighella” and with the dutiful greetings of local authorities) but not the landscape, not the variety of the route and the presence of the public. In this regard, kudos to the volunteers, the only ones besides the organizers allowed along the route, who went out of their way not to let the runners and runners lack affection and cheers.
Certainly there was the spirit of that race and, above all, a positive and optimistic spirit felt by all: the Ultrarunner tribe was reunited after a very long time and the desire to return to racing was palpable. This positive tension never ran out throughout the race, despite fatigue and defections: those who stayed in until the end always did so with conviction and joy, despite the difficulties experienced by many, including champions. Giorgio Calcaterra-not coincidentally called “King Giorgio” because he has won 12 of them in Passatore-had a blackout at the 47th km and thought about retiring, except he rectified himself and finished with an excellent 21st place overall after 10 minutes of standstill, but so did Marco Menegardi who won it in 7 hours, 22 minutes and 4 seconds not after a very difficult time.
We were there to comment on it too, albeit in our own way: talking about trivia and stories that related to the Passatore and the world of Ultra and bringing to the route the voices of those who sent hundreds of messages of encouragement to the competitors on the live streaming.
A beautiful and tiring day that showed how positive the world of ultras is and how much desire there was to return to running a lot and in a joyful atmosphere, to forget for a while the past months.
And in this installment of Outlaw we tell you how it went.
Happy listening!
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