It's 7:30 on a morning that doesn't look very promising.
From the windows of the Hotel on the Ostia seafront you can see the sea choppy by waves that exceed one meter (and maybe even two).
And there is one of those south-west wind that often upset this area of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
We are moving toward the start of the walking race in the marina, which is no more than 100m from the hotel all wrapped up and we walk to the start and finish area a long straight of about 950m.
A flat barrel, but we feel the south-west wind blowing in front of us.
It will be hard, I think to myself.
The weather forecast is incredibly contrary.
Average wind at 45km/h with gusts even over 60 km/h; temperature 12°C rising, humidity 70%.
The Technical Delegate decides together with the organizers for a 30-minute postponement of the races.
35km women
Five adventurers start at 10:08.
It is immediately clear that it is not enough, when we see them arriving with the wind in their face on the finish straight; with difficulty they manage to maintain an upright position.
Gianni Perricelli, the coach of Eleonora Anna Giorgi, immediately says that the goal of expressing oneself around 2:45:00 it's all pie in the sky.
They will end in order:
First place to Eleonora Anna Giorgi (ITA) in 3:00:21
Second place to Lidia Barcella (ITA) in 3:02:02 who in Grosseto on 26.1.2020 had stopped the clock in 2:58:44
Third place to Federica Curiazzi (ITA) in 3:10:57 who despite this wind achieved a similar time to that of Grosseto on 26.1.2020 when she had stopped the clock in 3:10:09
Fourth place to Annalisa Russo (ITA) in 3:15:15
Fifth place to Beatrice Foresti (ITA) in 3:15:40
50km men
Start at 10:31 with 12 athletes.
The wind will perhaps have less gusts, but it is always merciless around 40km/h.
On the other hand, a few rays of sunshine begin.
At the end of the race at 15:16 the day will be as a spring day and the wind will be acceptable at less than 10km/h.
The two favorites are immediately in the lead: Michele Giupponi and Andrea Agrusti, and behind them a small group with Teodorico Caporaso, Marco De Luca, Stefano Chiesa, Leonardo Dei Tos, Alexandros Pamamichail (GRE).
The first two hours of the race say very little, except that the International Jury disqualified Stefano Chiesa and stopped Teodorico Caporaso in the Penalty Zone for 5 minutes. The athlete talks to his coach and thinks about abandoning the race. He spends the five minutes continuing to move inside the Penalty Zone, and then when a few seconds are missing he decides to continue. He still does not know how wise that decision was.
At 35km, the couple Agrusti-Giupponi broke up, with Giupponi leading with about ten meters.
In a short time, both Agrusti and De Luca leave the scene. Shortly before they had stopped dead by the south-west wind Dei Tos and Micheletti.
At 40km Matteo Giupponi is in crisis (he will do the last 10km in more than an hour).
From behind, Teodorico Caporaso emerged from whom the stop in the Penalty Zone was his luck, and goes towards victory.
First place to Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) in 4:01:14
Second place to Alexandros Papamichail (GRE) in 4:02:43
Third place to Michele Antonelli (ITA) in 4:06:05 who, just under 250m from the finish, overtakes an exhausted Matteo Giupponi (4:06:05) and overtakes him for 56”.
20km men
It was known of the high value of the athletes of Mexico (Julio Salazar Enriques and Jesus Tedeo Vega Ortiz) who were accompanied by that monument of a former athlete who goes by the name of Raul Gonxzalez.
It was also known about the value of Mar Tur (ESP) which boasts a personal best of 1:22:46 obtained in Taicang (CHN) on 4.5.2014.
These were the favorites together with Federico Tontodonati (ITA) and Francesco Fortunato (ITA).
The race confirmed the forecast of the eve despite the absence of good chronometric performance.
Victory to Julio Enriquez Salazar (MEX) in 1:23:39 (personal best of 1:20:24 established in Pedebrady, CZE on 9.4.2016)
Second place to Marc Tur (ESP) in 1:24:28
Third place to Jesus Tadeo Vega Ortiz (MEX) in 1:24:36
Fourth Federico Tontonati (ITA) in 1:24:45
Fifth Francesco Fortunato (ITA) in 1:27:46 who, given his slim size, suffered the wind more than the others
20km U20 men
Victory to Gabriele Gamba (ITA) in 1:32:19
Second place to Filippo Antonio Capostagno (ITA) in 1: 33.47
Third place to Nicola Lomuscio in 1:35:23 (after a stop in the penalty area for 2 minutes)
Fourth place to Daniele Breda in 1:37:00 (after a stop in the penalty area for 2 minutes).
20km women
In our view, the most beautiful race of the day both from the technical point of view and from that of the battle between the top three athletes on the podium.
Valentina Trapletti and Nicole Colombi immediately take the lead, having a good advantage over Mariavittoria Becchetti at 5km.
The others are very detached.
But the pace put in place by Colombi does not convince the jury that the charge of two red cards.
When there are 6km to go (3 laps) Valentina Trapletti is leading with about fifty meters over Nicole Colombi who in turn has an advantage of about 30 meters over Mariavittoria Becchetti.
In the area reserved for technicians someone dares: “Becchetti will win”.
Never prophecy has been more exact.
The last three laps of the Becchetti are a show of technique that also receives the compliments of the international jury after the race.
For this reason we wanted to reserve the cover photo for you today.
Victory then to Mariavittoria Becchetti (ITA) in 1:34:09
Second place to Valentina Trapletti (ITA) in 1:34:22
Third place to Nicole Colombi (ITA) in 1:35:30
20km U20 women
Victory to Alessia Titone (ITA) in 1:48:43
Second place to Anna Ferrari (ITA) in 1:51:03
Third place na Francesca Liviani (ITA) in 1:53:58
10km U18 boys
Victory to Diego Giampaolo (ITA) in 46:53
Second place to Tommaso Carucci (ITA) in 47:21
Third place to Giorgio Lauria (ITA) in 50:00
10km U18 girls
Victory to Giulia Gabriele (ITA) in 52:17
Second place to Verdiana Casciotti (ITA) in 52:40
Third place went to Giada Traina (ITA) in 53:07 after a 60" stop in the penalty area