Running in elba



Elba island with its places, its not very crowded roads , allows to run all year round. The history of elban walking , that lived an amazing ten years with many teams and walkers from the whole island, tells us about very heartfelt walking competitions that took place on several routes.

After a period in the last few years where race walking was almost not practiced anymore, now many people are getting interested in it and they have started practicing this sport once again. Running is one the oldest sports for being fit, and maybe a sedentary lifestyle , typical of the new century, is one of the reasons why people are rediscovering this activity that allows people to ease their mind from daily stress and to get in touch with nature.

We also have to mention some new sports linked to running were born, such as trial and walking, and many people of all ages love them ; they help people to have a healthy lifestyle thanks to exercise that definitely improves life quality and extend life expectation.

There’s a Walking club in Elba, where many running races take place. One of the most historical ones is the Marcianella, and we also want to mention the Tagliagambe at Marciana Marina and the trail in the mine that takes place every year between the lunar landscape of Rio Marina mines. Stracosmopoli is also very beautiful, it takes place along a fascinating and challenging route inside the medicean walls in the historic town of Portoferraio. In may 2016 the first Elba marathon will take place, with a panoramic route along the Sun Coast starting from Procchio and ending in Marina di Campo.

History of elban running

At the beginning of the 70’s , when athletics for the most part moves from running tracks to the streets, all over the world the first big marathons take place: boston- new York- London-fukuoka etc and consequently the first big running stars such as BILL RODGER, ALBERT SALAZAR, ROBERT DE CASTELLA, the Australian Moneghetti and Italians CINDOLO, FAVA, BORDIN, COVA and PIZZOLATO;the trend of footing and jogging lands in Italy and in Elba from the united states . in elba people start becoming passionate about street running, with children, teens, men and women, everybody runs and they all want to win.

The pride of people of Elba , the will and the difficult ground engage athletes in very tough trainings. Races become actual battles with pushes at the start and mockery at the arrive. Sport clubs grow up and they try to get the best athletes, we like to mention: Podistica Portoferraio, Mezzo Litro from Marciana, G.S Martorella from San Piero, Podistica Marinese, Juventude from Capoliveri, Proloco from Porto Azzurro, Team of restaurant da “FINE” di Seccheto, G.B.C. di Portoferraio, U.S. Schiopparello, G.S. Grotta Azzurra of Portoferraio, and lastly G.P. "VECCHIO FORNO” from Seccheto.

Races increase in number and they get included in what was known as Trophy of Elban runner. We’d like to mention the Longonella as one of the races that happened every year, the Mare e Monti, the Tre Forssi, the Laconella, the Marcianella, the Su e Giù per le cote, the famous 100 km of Elba island, an international race, and lastly in fall and winter there was the stage race Giro Podistico Elbano,with scoring and different age categories. This whole thing lasted about ten years and then , all of a sudden, people lost interest in this sport to get passionate about other sports such as football, rugby and basket. After a long period of standstill now elban running has been given a second chance as many people have gotten passionate about this healthy and cheap sport that they can do all year round.

Curiosity about Athletics

Athletics is a collection of sporting events that can be roughly divided in the following categories:running and jumping, road running, race walking, field running. The word athletics comes etymologically from the latin athletic ( where the word artem “tecnica” is implied) from athleta that actually comes from the greek athletès from athlos “competition”.

Athletics events are usually organized around a ring shaped track long 400 mt where competitions take place. Throwing and jumping competitions, on the other hand, take place on the specific field inside the elliptical track itself. Many of the athletics disciplines are really old and their roots are ancient, they took place as competitions in ancient Greek already. Athletics was included in Olympic Games since the 1896 edition, and it’s been part of the Olympic program since then.

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