The Florence Marathon is an annual full-length marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 race which takes place in late November in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, 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...

. Established in 1984, the international competition has significantly grown in size since its inaugural edition of 462 runners – a total of 10,211 runners started the 2010 edition, making it the second largest Italian marathon after the Rome City Marathon

Rome City Marathon

The Rome Marathon is an annual marathon competition hosted by the city of Rome, Italy on a Sunday of March.The competition has also doubled as the Italian Marathon championships on two occasions; in 1983 and 1986. The race date was shifted from the traditional March schedule to 1 January in 2000...

.

Orlando Pizzolato

Orlando Pizzolato

Orlando Pizzolato is a retired long-distance runner from Italy, who represented his native country in the men's marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics, finishing in 16th place...

, a two-time New York Marathon winner, was present to inaugurate the race in 1984. The competition's first course was about a kilometre short of the true marathon distance, and it was increased for all subsequent editions. The course, which was created in 2011, starts at the Lungarno Pecori Giraldi  and finishes in Piazza Santa Croce

Piazza Santa Croce

Piazza Santa Croce is one of the main squares of the centre of Florence, Italy.It is located near piazza della Signoria and the National Central Library, and takes its name by the Basilica of Santa Croce that overlook the square.-Basilica of Santa Croce:...

. It passes through much of Florence's historical town centre, with architecture dating from the 13th century, including: Piazza della Signoria

Piazza della Signoria

Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio....

, Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers...

, and the Basilica of Santa Croce.

From 2001 through 2010, the course began at Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo is a famous square with a magnificent panoramic view of Florence, Italy, and is a popular tourist destination in the Oltrarno district of the city...

 and had a zigzagging path through the centre The bends and cobblestone roads made for a particularly difficult marathon and this led to the change in 2011 for an easier, faster race.The Course of XXVI Firenze Marathon. Firenze Marathon (2009). Retrieved on 2009-12-02. An AIMS

Association of International Marathons and Distance Races

The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, also known as AIMS, is an association of long-distance running races. Originally founded in 1982 at a meeting in London of marathon race directors, its membership was extended in 1986 to include all road races...

-certified course, it was ineligible for world records due to an overall net drop of 75 m from 2001 to 2009, but the current course is now eligible.

Italians form the bulk of the runners, while France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 are usually the next most represented nationalities in the field. From 2005 to 2009, the competition was annually broadcast live for three hours on the state-owned Rai Tre

Rai Tre

Rai 3 is part of RAI, the Italian government broadcasting agency, which owns other channels, such as Rai 1 and Rai 2 . Rai 3 first started transmissions on December 15, 1979. In the eighties it was under the predominant political influence of the Italian Communist Party...

 channel. The race is among Italy's most prominent – it was selected to be the national championship marathon race for the first time in 2003. The current course record holders are James Kutto, who set the men's record of 2:08:41 in 2006, and Helena Javornik

Helena Javornik

Helena Javornik is a Slovenian long-distance runner who has specialized in all distances from 1500 metres to the marathon race....

, who ran 2:28:15 in 2002 to set the women's record.

Past winners

Key:

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :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 (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :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.... )
I	1984		2:15:23		2:32:53
II	1985		2:17:44		2:44:32
III	1986		2:15:37		2:39:35
IV	1987		2:16:33		2:33:23
V	1988		2:15:51		2:43:14
VI	1989		2:16:48		2:39:45
VII	1990		2:18:57		2:44:23
VIII	1991		2:16:33		2:35:37
IX	1992		2:19:12		2:50:34
X	1993		2:16:39		2:42:24
XI	1994		2:14:03		2:41:34
XII	1995		2:15:36		2:40:08
XIII	1996		2:15:04		2:33:51
XIV	1997		2:14:27		2:47:00
XV	1998		2:16:39		2:44:16
XVI	1999		2:11:51		2:38:28
XVII	2000		2:14:11		2:32:18
XVIII	2001		2:10:38		2:32:26
XIX	2002		2:11:15		2:28:15
XX	2003		2:15:54		2:34:40
XXI	2004		2:11:34		2:29:11
XXII	2005		2:11:27		2:30:46
XXIII	2006		2:08:41		2:34:52
XXIV	2007		2:12:50		2:33:14
XXV	2008		2:12:37		2:34:13
XXVI	2009		2:11:21		2:35:41
XXVII	2010		2:12:41		2:28:58
XXVIII	2011		2:09:52		2:31:36

By country

Country	Men's race	Women's race	Total
	9	11	20
	10	2	12
	2	4	6
	2	2	4
	2	0	2
	0	2	2
	1	1	2
	1	1	2
	1	0	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1

Participation

Number of race finishers

Year	Men	Women	Total
2011	5924	1004	6928
2010	6611	1179	7790
2009	7025	1182	8207
2008	6181	1022	7203
2007	5356	931	6287
2006	5289	981	6270
2005	4201	679	4880
2004	3486	520	4006
2003	3428	561	3989
2002	2851	404	3255
2001	2351	291	2642
2000	2242	239	2481
1999	2055	186	2241
1998	2116	161	2277
1997	2170	194	2364
1996	2292	181	2473
1995	2166	145	2311
1994	1955	129	2084
1993	1470	78	1548
1992	1233	52	1285
1991	1022	45	1067
1990	1018	39	1057
1989	1127	43	1170
1988	1119	38	1157
1987	1247	50	1297
1986	1180	45	1225
1985	822	37	859
1984	448	14	462

• All statistics taken from the Association of Road Racing Statisticians
  Association of Road Racing Statisticians
  The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road records for standard race distances and to establish...
  
  .

External links

• Official website