With less than a fortnight until race day, the organisers of the Acea Rome Marathon have revealed that 14,100 runners have registered to take part in the 24th edition of this race on 8 April.
The Acea Rome Marathon is a newly certified five-star road race by European Athletics Running for All which guarantees participants the highest level of race organisation and security.
The Italian capital city remains an enduringly popular destination for tourists and nearly half of the field will be made up of runners from abroad. A total of 130 countries will be represented on the streets of Rome with nearly 45.5 percent of registered runners hailing from beyond Italy.
But the number of runners hitting the streets in Rome on the second Sunday of April will far exceed this figure. The programme also includes a non-competitive 5km fun run which attracted approximately 80,000 participants last year.
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The marathon remains the focal point of the event and the runners will set off in three waves in order to limit congestion at the start. The route is similar to last year and will include the most famous places of worship in the capital: St. Peter's, the Synagogue, and the Mosque. Runners will start and finish near the Via dei Fori Imperiali.
Italian runners are unlikely to feature too prominently in the elite races but the men’s race features two runners with sub-2:06 lifetime bests in Kenya’s Jafred Kipchirchir (2:05:48 PB) and Ethiopia’s Girmay Birhanu (2:05:49 PB). The women’s field is headed by reigning two-time champion Rahma Tusa from Ethiopia (2:25:12 PB) and former Boston Marathon winner Sharon Cherop from Kenya (2:22:28 PB).
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The European Athletics Quality Road Race standards act as an assurance for road runners throughout Europe. They distinguish between races that respect the standards and those that haven’t sought certification or assessment. They form the foundation of Running for All, a strong recognisable brand for running activities throughout Europe.
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