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English version by Jenny Stripe

After a week of constant bad weather, the old saying “it never rains on parkrun day” proved to be true. Thus, a week after our first birthday, 41 parkrunners met up to run the 55th Roma Pineto parkun.

Last week we had tourist invasion as a result of the Rome Marathon, instead this week we were an almost totally local affair, although many of those include native English speakers who we now consider “one of us”.

Many of this week’s runners returned victorious from the marathon the week before and we would like to congratulate all of them. Instead, our old friend Matteo MAGGINI came to visit us almost a year after his previous parkrun with us, though he has run in the UK during that time.

Another saying goes “After a marathon comes a new PB” and a few of us actually managed to better their time a mere 6 days later.

This was the case with Rodrigo FRANCO and Gabriele FIORANI who draw ever closer to the 20 minute mark.

pb? Well done!

 Cornelia BOGDAN also set a new personal best and will soon have 25 minutes within her sights.

The other marathon survivors decided to accompany a young future talent (though judging by their expressions it’s not entirely clear who was accompanying who ).

Within this group, we also had Rosa ARCHER one of our two tourists on Saturday, she was also the day’s veteran with 144 parkruns. We noticed that it was also a season’s best for her, which is great considering that it was set on Pineto’s tough trail course.

Sergio COCOZZA’s training group are becoming particularly expert on our course. Giuseppina SORRENTI was the fastest out of the ladies, improving on her previous times and dipping under 22 minutes. However, all of them performed well and in particular, Rodolfo BUTTARELLI who also ran a new PB.

Finally, staying in the theme of marathon veterans, here we can see our Luciano GIOVANNINI in the role of pacer helping Barbara STRACQUALURSI reach a new PB. Well done to both of them!

Luciano will be back with us on Saturday to celebrate Easter with us. As well as eating chocolate eggs and cakes, we will also run or walk our usual 5km in the Parco del Pineto! Meeting up as usual at the via Vittorio Montiglio entrance, at 8:45 (for a 9am start).

Link to results

Link to Facebook photos [1][2]

English version

In una settimana flagellata dal brutto tempo la massima “non piove mai il giorno di parkrun” si rileva vera e così, dopo la festa per il primo anno di parkrun, 41 parkrunner si sono riuniti per la 55eisma Roma Pineto parkun.

Dopo l’invasione dei turisti in coincidenza della maratona questa volta la quasi totalità dei parkrunner era rappresentata da locali, anche se, dobbiamo ricordarcelo, diversi di loro anglofoni ma che ormai consideriamo a vario titolo parte di noi.

Molti dei partecipanti erano superstiti della maratona di Roma: complimenti e applausi per loro… Inoltre il nostro vecchio amico Matteo MAGGINI ci ha fatto visita dopo quasi un anno dal suo ultimo parkrun romano, anche se ogni tanto ha continuato a correre in Inghilterra.

Una massima recita che “dopo la maratona si fanno i pb” e in effetti hanno addirittura migliorato il loro tempo subito il sabato successivo.

E’ il caso di Rodrigo FRANCO e Gabriele FIORANI ad esempio che si avvicinano al muro dei 20 minuti.

Hai fatto pb? Bravo!

Ma anche di Cornelia BOGDAN che invece si avvicina ai 25 minuti.

Altri superstiti della maratona hanno invece accompagnato qualche giovane speranza futura (anche se, a giudicare dalle facce, non è facile dire chi abbia accompagnato chi ).

Ha corso con questo gruppone anche Rosa ARCHER una dei due turisti di giornata, nonché la veterana con le sue 144 parkrun. Primato stagionale delle parkrun del 2019 per lei, risultato che vale doppio visto che è stato conquistato sul terreno sempre impegnativo del pineto.

Esperti di questa impegnativa parkrun stanno diventando gli allievi di Sergio COCOZZA. Giuseppina SORRENTI è risultata la più veloce delle donne, migliorando anche il suo tempo precedente scendendo sotto i 22 minuti, ma ottimi tempi per l’intero gruppo e in particolare per Rodolfo BUTTARELLI che migliora il suo record precedente.

E infine, sempre parlando di maratoneti, ecco Luciano GIOVANNINI in veste di pacer che trascina Barbara STRACQUALURSI a un nuovo miglioramento. Complimenti a entrambi.

Sabato prossimo ci sarà anche lui a festeggiare la Pasqua. Tra uova di Pasqua e dolci correremo e cammineremo: 5km nel Parco del Pineto! Appuntamento ingresso di via Vittorio Montiglio, alle 8e45 (con partenza alle 9).

Link ai risultati

Link alle foto su Facebook [1][2]

Go to Italian version

English translation by Jennifer Stripe

Roma Pineto parkrun was even more festive than usual on the occasion of our first birthday. This also resulted in even more cakes and sweets than usual, brought along by various parkrunners.

However, Saturday was not simply a party because the 2nd April is also International Autism Awareness Day, in which all the Italian parkruns joined together to raise awareness by taking part in the campaign “A Cut For Autism” or by wearing something blue.

Our ED and the Event Director of Foro Italico, Riccardo HARTL, who had come to visit us, joined in this initiative by turning up with only half a beard

Turning to the actual event, we registered our 3rd highest participation ever with 64 parkrunners finishing 5km. As was the case at our inaugural parkrun, we had quite a few tourists (around 20) owing to the Rome Marathon the following day. In fact, only the division of tourist numbers between our parkrun and our friends at Caffarella stopped us beating the attendance record that we set on that day. We hope that all our guests who ran on Sunday had a great time.

The protagonists among the tourists were definitely the PENN family: Helen, who had come to run the Rome Marathon, where she set a new PB, is the Event Director at Humber Bridge parkrun. She was also the the veteran of the day with 266 parkruns, the closest to that figure being her son Andrew, who has 193 parkruns under his belt.

The main attraction though was without doubt her husband Jamie, otherwise known as the “Bishop of parkrun”. It was truly a blessing to have him grace our parkrun with his presence on the morning of our birthday.

Turning to the faster runners, we were bereft of our regular first finisher Luigi DE LUCA who was in Berlin (where he bumped into some previous visitors to Roma Pineto), so the mantle fell to Lorenzo FRESCHI to set the pace for the day, leaving the others over a minute behind him.

Regarding the ladies: Giuseppina SORRENTI was the fastest finisher and once again, Sergio COCOZZA’s group shows hard work and consistency on our challenging cross-country 5km.

Once again the ladies were the main players this week: Jenny STRIPE broke the 24 minute barrier, and sets herself a new Pineto PB within a whisker of her all time PB for 5km.

Our friend Carolyne KRAMAR returned with a bang. Having come back from Australia for the Italian summer season, she immediately set a new PB for our course.

Finally, we must mention another returnee: Piera BONTEMPO who is back with us enjoying running (with expert marathon veterans and young potential marathon runners) at Roma Pineto after a long break away.

Hopefully we will see her AND YOU again next Saturday at the Parco del Pineto, via Vittorio Montiglio entrance, at 8:45 (for a 9am start).

Link to results

Link to Emanuele Musolino's photos

Link to Facebook photos

English version

Grandi festeggiamenti per il primo compleanno di Roma Pineto parkrun, conditi più del solito da varie torte portate da diversi parkrunner.

Sabato però era una giornata non solo di festa: il 2 aprile è stata la Giornata Mondiale per l’Autismo e tutte le parkrun italiane si sono unite per ricordare questo giorno aderendo alla campagna “un taglio per l’autismo” o vestendosi di blu.

Il nostro ED e l’Event Director di Foro Italico, Riccardo HARTL, in visita a Roma si sono prestati alla campagna presentandosi con metà barba.

Venendo alla corsa, abbiamo registrato la terza affluenza di sempre con 64 parkrunner. Come nel caso della parkrun inaugurale abbiamo avuto molti turisti (una ventina circa), favoriti dalla maratona del giorno dopo. Solo la divisione dei turisti fra la nostra parkrun e caffarella parkrun ha impedito di battere il record di presenze registrato nell’evento inaugurale.

Grande protagonista fra i turisti è stata la famiglia PENN: Helen, in visita a Roma per partecipare alla maratona, è Event Director a Humber Bridge parkrun e inoltre con le sue 266 parkrun di giornata è stata di gran lunga la veterana di giornata, avvicinata solo dalle 193 del giovane figlio Andrew.

Ma la scena principale è stata completamente presa dal marito Jamie, anche conosciuto come il “Vescovo di parkrun”. È stata davvero una benedizione averlo tra noi proprio il giorno del nostro compleanno.

Parlando invece dei parkrunner più veloci, orfani di Luigi DE LUCA in trasferta a Berlino (dove ha incontrato nostre vecchie conoscenze, foto) è toccato a Lorenzo FRESCHI dettare il ritmo, staccando tutti di oltre un minuto.

In campo femminile è Giuseppina SORRENTI a risultare la più veloce: ancora una volta il gruppo di Sergio COCOZZA mostra di impegnarsi con grande costanza sui nostri 5km campestri non certamente facili.

E sono proprio le donne le protagoniste di questa parkrun: Jenny STRIPE supera il muro dei 24 minuti, stabilisce il suo nuovo record al Pineto e sfiora il suo record all time sui 5km.

Ritorno con il botto di una nostra cara amica, Carolyne KRAMAR: tornata dall'Australia per il suo semestre italiano, si presenta subito con uno nuovo record sul nostro tracciato.

Infine, un altro ritorno, quello di Piera BONTEMPO che riassaggia con una corsa di gruppo (fra esperti maratoneti e giovani forse futuri maratoneti) la nostra parkrun dopo qualche tempo.

Anche con lei l’appuntamento è al Parco del Pineto, ingresso di via Vittorio Montiglio, alle 8e45 (con partenza alle 9).

Link ai risultati

Link alle foto di Emanuele Musolino

Link alle foto su Facebook

Go to Italian version

English translation by Jennifer Stripe

We concluded the first year in the life of Roma Pineto parkrun in impressive style and with a series of noteworthy achievements.

The first mention and certainly the sweetest was a record number of cakes brought along by various participants: we had 6 to choose from as well as the usual bottles of Prosecco.

This record was undoubtedly aided by two special milestones: Gabriele CAVALLO finally enters into the 10 Club, which is reserved for juniors who reach ten “adult” parkruns. In addition, our great friend Giovanni GABOARDI reached 50 parkruns and soon enough will receive his red commemorative shirt.

Once again, Luigi DE LUCA ran in pacer mode, leading the pack with a goal of 20 minutes. Throughout the first lap he was followed closely by the tourist Alan WALDEN from Kettering and our ED Salvatore VASSALLO who, despite tailing off miserably during the second lap (while reminding himself how great it is to simply volunteer) registered an improvement of 30 seconds and postponed the 20 minute barrier for the next time he manages to run.

Other notable PBS include those of Claudio DI ROCCO and Alvaro DE SANTIS who, as if from the pages of a Bubka novel, get better steadfastly 1cm at a time.

Another improvement that definitely requires celebrating was that of Valerio ANTIMO: Valerio came back to Roma Pineto parkrun after a long injury break, which started last year. He is now completely recovered and he recently set a new half marathon PB!

The fastest woman on the day was Kenny BODGAN, even though in theory she was in tapering for the upcoming Rome Marathon.

Other ladies who also had a great run include our ultra marathon runner Edith VENTOSILLA SHAW, who unusually allowed herself a short, fast run and took a large chunk off her previous PB.

A big round of applause also goes to Barbara STRACQUALURSI who set a new PB on Saturday and then the following day completed her first official 10km race.

We welcomed a sizeable group of tourists from England and Australia, amongst them there were husband and wife Tony and Beverly ARTHUR who were our veterans of the day with 91 and 97 parkruns respectively.

Next Saturday, the 6th April, will be a particularly special day as we celebrate one year of parkrun in Rome. Please join us for our first birthday party at the same time, same place: Parco del Pineto, via Vittorio Montiglio entrance at 8:45 (for a 9am start).

Link to results

Link to Facebook photos [1]