Florence Marathon

Florence Marathon
Florence's architecture features prominently – Piazza Santa Croce is the finishing point
Date	Late November
Location	Florence, Italy
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Established	1984
Official site	Florence Marathon

The Florence Marathon (Italian: Maratona di Firenze) is an annual full-length marathon race which takes place in late November in Florence, Italy. 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.

Orlando Pizzolato, 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. It passes through much of Florence's historical town centre, with architecture dating from the 13th century, including: Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, and the Basilica of Santa Croce.

From 2001 through 2010, the course began at Piazzale Michelangelo 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. An AIMS-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, Germany and the United Kingdom 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 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, who ran 2:28:15 in 2002 to set the women's record.