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May 2, 2024

Firenze (Florence) Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Firenze (Florence) Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.3

Organization 4.0

Spectators 3.1

Number of comments: 59 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 > ]

B. C. from Worcester, MA (12/9/2013) "Sophisticated Marathoning" (about: 2013) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Hot tea and Gluten free snacks at a water stop? Mileage markers in kilometers? Italian runners yelling 'Mario', 'Lorenzo','Aldo'? Tight medieval streets? Fit and fast runners everywhere? This is not your American marathon. Try Florence for a fun memorable marathon with a touch of class. Very much worth the trip despite a crazy start line and a crazier finish line. I'll be back.
R. B. from Miami, FL (12/4/2013) "Hard on cobbled roads" (about: 2013) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The expo was crowded, more booths than US expos. Maybe seemed more because booths were arranged in a loop, forcing people to pass thru all the booths before getting to the packet pickup. Then had to wind your way back out again...Race was fast, I am a slow runner (5:59) but spectators were still cheering, bystanders very supportive and moved out of the way when course opened. 'Scoop up' truck was behind us the last few miles, not obnoxious, cheering us on still :-) ran out of medals at the end but quick to respond to the problem. Great refreshments, warm sweet tea :-), bananas, 'salt' water(sports drink), water, mini tarts, and cookies. Even had separate sponge table, to wipe off sweat :-) Could have used a few more port-a-potties along the way. My first international marathon, was nervous at start, made a friend along the way and crossed the finish line with her :-) I loved the Asics zip up vest, nice addition to my marathon shirts. Only hard part was running on the old cobbled pavers the last few miles, tough on feet and ankles. Beautiful city with beautiful views.
nick keeling from Maryland, USA (11/30/2013) "Firenze Maraton Bellisimo" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Fantastic marathon. Wonderful scenery, well organized, great volunteers, flat and fast. Like another runner I have a Garmin and ran 26.91 miles which made my time a little bit slower than I was hoping for. The other complaint I have was, there were 4 4:30 pace leaders and I think they were racing each other for a 4 hour marathon!! I would thoroughly recommend this marathon and just enjoyed the experience of being in Florence
G. C. from Verona (11/27/2013) "NO MEDALS" (about: 2013) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 Florence is one of the most beautiful cities of Italy and the border of this country.Why do I mean by border?Simply,from Florence to the south is another 'country'... north italians call it 'Teronia'. Teronia has the nicest people you will ever meet,the most beautiful landscapes but almost everything is run by mafia.That leads to poverty,few jobs opportunities and a lot of bad things.Don't believe me?Just visit two average cities,one in the north,one in the south and you will see what I'm talking about(exNorth:Mantova,South:Naples). As i said,Florence is the invisible border. What does this have to do with the marathon? You will pay the entry fee,you will finish the marathon and you WON'T receive a medal(if your time is > 5:04hours). Sure is just a mistake,they forgot to make enough medals. They said we will receive the medals at home and we can participate for free next year(no way this was a method to save some money by ordering the right number of medals). P.S: Another problem was the distance, my gps recorded 27 miles.
p. C. from London England (11/26/2013) "garmin showed course at 43.06km" (about: 2013) 4-5 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 After the first few km my garmin started to deviate from the marked distance. By the end the distance recorded was 43.06km. This garmin has recorded my last 2 marathons and a half marathon accurately. Did anyone else notice the same problem ?
P. S. from Madrid, Warsaw (11/25/2013) "Expected more" (about: 2013) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 Poor organization,really nice views, breathtaking Florence architecture compensate everything.
Johan D'Hauw from België (11/25/2013) "Not the fastest but great marathon" (about: 2013) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Good organisation although entering the starting boxes went slow because the entrance area is rather small. Very nice run in historic city, roads in the city center are not easy to run on. Refreshments every 5K with minerals, the, water, enery drinks,...Enthusiastic crowd in center areas, bands playingn... So all in all a great experience. No marathon though to set a new personal record.
L. A. from Glos, UK (11/30/2012) "Amazing marathon, flat and well organised." (about: 2012) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Perfect weather, beautiful city to run through, delicious refreshments at water stops, good marshalling. Really enjoyed this race. Not many spectators, but it is a good, flat, fast course. Would highly recommend.
P. P. from Massachusetts, USA (12/3/2011) "Beautiful course, but a few issues." (about: 2011) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 The course is spectacular, running through downtown Florence and by most of its major monuments. It's also very flat, the main 'hills' being a handful of bridges and a train overpass. The main problems were the narrow streets that created many bottlenecks, and the water stops being 5K apart, which was not enough towards the end even on a cool day. The crowd support was negligible. The pace groups were very large and got to start at the front, instead of in the appropriate corral (had I known, I'd have joined one), so they took a lot of energy to pass early on. Overall, a good marathon experience because of the beauty of the course and the effort of the volunteers, though improvements could easily be made.
A. D. from Pound Ridge, NY (12/3/2011) "Bellissimo!" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Firenze (Florence) Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Wonderful experience overall. I would note to international entrants that this race requires a medical approval form (something I didn't realize until two weeks before the race, since the instructions regarding what was necessary were not clearly communicated in any (English) correspondence I got after signing up. Other than that, I'd say the race was fast, the organization was good, and the course was beautiful. The quality of runners in the field was also very impressive. This was my first race in Europe and I was surprised that my sub 4 hour time didn't even make the top 50%. It was awesome running with such a strong field. I'd highly recommend this race.

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