A New Era for Running in Naples
Another giant step in the coming together of southern Italian verve and northern Czech expertise in the Napoli Running partnership an effort to bring true world class running events to the region.
Release of the list of elite Athletes scheduled to compete in the fourth edition of the Napoli City Half Marathon on February 5, 2017 marks another giant step in the coming together of southern Italian verve and northern Czech expertise in the Napoli Running partnership - an effort to bring true world class running events to the region.
With a record field of over 4,000 entrants which exceeded the original limit by several hundred and a strong elite field the Napoli City Half Marathon organisers are looking for some fast times, personal records, and many happy faces in Naples next week.
As Carlo Capalbo, the President of the RunCzech organising committee and the Chairman of the IAAF (International Association of Athletic Federations) Road Running Commission, stated, “If the introduction of Napoli Running at the Coast to Coast Maratona della Costiera in December 2016 marked the birth of our Neapolitan cooperation then this race in Napoli should be considered its baptism. We are working with Race Director, Benedetto Scarpellino and the whole organising team in a joint effort to introduce international criteria and high standards which the running community and the public have come to expect from us”.
One of the essential requirements to eventually becoming an IAAF Label Road Race is a field of elite runners from multiple countries in addition to the local and national caliber athletes who already have expressed a love for the event. As Scarpellino announced the names of the elites for the 2017 edition of the event he noted “With this field we will definitely be looking for new event records this year to bring the Napoli City Half Marathon greater attention in the press raising our public profile and bringing even more participants in the future and greater visibility for our partners”.
With two men with sub 1:02 personal best times and a total of six with with times under 1:05, the men’s event record of 1:04:39 (Andrea Lalli, ITA, 2015) will definitely be in jeopardy. Kenyon’s Eliud Mwangi Macharia and the 24 year old Paul Kariuki Mwangi will be favoured based on past performances, but they should be challenged by Roman Prodius of Moldova and the Italian, Bernard Dematteis amongst others.
The men’s race will also feature a Paralympian, Giovanni Sasso, who was a member of the Italian Paralympian Triathlon Team in Rio. Sasso completed the New York City Marathon in 2008 and set a World Record for his division with a 4:28 time in the Amsterdam Marathon in 2012.
The women’s race will feature a Czech athlete in the elite field, Eva Vrabcova (who participated in Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games), facing challenges from two strong Italians, Laila Soufyane, and Deborah Tonimolo, and the Moroccan, Janat Hanane, but several other Italian runners could challenge for the podium. The women’s event record (1:17:48 Malika Benlafir, MAR 2016) should fall given the depth of this field.
