The BOclassic is an annual road running

Road running

Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...

 competition over the distance of 10 kilometres for men and 5 kilometres for women. It is held on New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...

 in Bolzano, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. The competition has only elite races, competed between a limited number of runners, but over 10,000 spectators gather in the streets each year to witness the race. The race has been broadcast live on television by Italian channel Rai Sport Più

Rai Sport Più

Rai Sport 1 is an Italian sports TV channel, launched in 1999 by the state-owned RAI television network. It broadcast Italian and international sports events in Italy on DTT channel 57 on Mux Rai B...

.

It was first held in 1975 under the title Corsa Internazionale di San Silvestro – inspired by the Saint Silvester Road Race in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, it was the first European New Year's Eve road race (Silvesterlauf). After nine editions as a 13 km race, the men's race settled on its 10 km format. A women's competition was included in the programme from 1977 onwards and it has been a 5 km race since 1987. The Corsa Internazionale di San Silvestro changed its name in 1996: race president Kurt Putzer renamed it the BOclassic.

The course is in the centre of the town of Bolzano. It is a looped circuit, starting at Walther Square and heading west on Via della Mostra before turning onto Via Goethe and Via del Portici. The route then heads southwards along Via Laurin before looping back on itself to follow along Vaile della Stazione back to the starting point.

Past male competitors have included multiple European champion Serhiy Lebid, Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini

Stefano Baldini

Stefano Baldini is a retired Italian athlete and the 2004 Olympic and former European champion in the marathon....

 while women such as World Half Marathon Champions Tegla Loroupe

Tegla Loroupe

Tegla Chepkite Loroupe is a long-distance track and road runner, and a global spokeswoman for peace, women's rights, and education....

 and Berhane Adere

Berhane Adere

Berhane Adere is an athlete from Ethiopia.Adere held the African record for 10,000 metres in a time of 30:04.18, set at the 2003 World Championships, where she won gold...

 have won the women's section.

Past winners

Key:

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
1st	1975		39:59	Not held	N/A
2nd	1976		39:30	Not held	N/A
3rd	1977		38:33		47:45
4th	1978		38:46		46:25
5th	1979		39:09		22:46
6th	1980		38:32		21:11
7th	1981		38:48		22:28
8th	1982		38:03		22:54
9th	1983		37:45		21:34
10th	1984		29:10		17:03
11th	1985		29:31		14:54
12th	1986		29:25		14:54
13th	1987		28:46		16:02
14th	1988		28:34		15:54
15th	1989		28:27		16:11
16th	1990		28:38		16:04
17th	1991		28:02		15:34
18th	1992		28:25		16:05
19th	1993		28:43		16:01
20th	1994		28:33		15:49
21st	1995		28:19		15:49
22nd	1996		28:37		16:14
23rd	1997		28:08		16:02
24th	1998		28:10		15:44
25th	1999		28:24		15:50
26th	2000		28:27		16:08
27th	2001		28:41.5		16:26.4
28th	2002		29:02		15:50.6
29th	2003		28:36		15:49.9
30th	2004		28:23.1		16:14.7
31st	2005		28:38.9		15:53.6
32nd	2006		28:34.0		15:44.6
33rd	2007		28:50.7		16:01.6
34th	2008		28:55.5		15:59.7
35th	2009		28:44.3		16:11.4
36th	2010		28:32		15:52

• NB: The race course distances varied in the early years of the competition but the men's distance settled at 10 km from 1984 onwards and the women's race has been a 5K run since 1987.