Venice Marathon 2024

In 2023, when I lost the London marathon ballot for the 6th time ( 6 years!).  I got so fed up and it happened to be around the Black Friday sales period, so I chanced upon the Venice Marathon Black Friday sales.

After looking through some reviews, it seemed like Venice Marathon is one of those PB marathons, flat route, well organised and has good replenishments.  I decided to sign up for the race since it was only 40 EUR for a Full Marathon.  I did not even know how to get to Venice and whether it was really worth it to go.  Seriously, after failing so many ballots with London and Boston getting harder and harder to qualify, I began to wonder if it is all worth the while for a major.  Major races are nice, established and gets you your star.  But it is also very expensive, and crowded.

Venice Marathon

I had never been to other parts of Italy other than Rome.  Personally, I feel that Rome is a tad messy compared to other European county especially places in Scandinavia.  But it does have its charms also and the architecture is amazing.  Venice is a small island shaped like a fish on the Northern part of Italy.  I always seen movies , especially those 007 , Mission Impossible Spy movies taking this place as one of their filming destination.  Mainly because of its water ways and the lovely Gondolas.

The race being secured, now is how to get there.  There are no direct flight from Singapore to Venice, and this time I thought I wanted to do a back to back swim and run, but I could not find a proper oceanman that is nearby.  So in the end I thought the Istanbul Marathon which happened the following week will be a good choice.

Venice In a Nutshell

First time going to Venice, I checked on a lot of tips and most people recommend staying on mainland Mestre.  This is only one station again from the Venice Santa Lucia station.   It was a good choice as on Venice itself, the hotels are more expensive and inside the island the only way to commute was to walk around and it was a maze there.  Somemore, most of the buildings there were old and if it is not a high end one, the quality of the hotel can be in a dire state.  As I was travelling along.  I decided to stay in the hostel as usual, cheap, able to do things freely and also a chance to meet people.

I stayed at Anda Hostel, it was a pretty nice place, hip and clean.  My room was a 6 men dorm, I requested for a bottom bed and got it, the only problem was that the bed do not have some sort of covering like curtains or board for privacy.  It gets pretty noisy. Other than that the hostel was cosy and had a large kitchen for you to prepare your own food.  Location wise , it was near the train station and therefore very accessible to many places in the part of Italy.

Race Collection

So much about the livelihood, in Venice the currency was mainly in euro and also things are not that expensive.  Most of the supermarkets sells pretty good pre cooked meals and salads. It was also where I got my race nutrition needs for the race.  The collection is a the San Giuliano Park , part of the race route also goes through there.  The park is near to Mestre and you can take a public transport down.  Race expo is actually in a tentage with a lot of vendors selling the usual sports items.  For the bib, you will receive one envelope with the important information on how to get to Villa Pisani ( the start point , this race, the start and end is different) and other important info for your bag drop and the schedule for the program.

There is a standard bag for everyone to put their drop bag items and inside there is your event tee with some freebies like biscuit and supplement samples.  There was also some small plasters included.  After collection , I went to tour around Venice and also the islands Murano, Burano and Torcello.  These three islands are the nearest to Venice and also similar with many canals and colouful painted buildings.

Race Proper

 

The good thing about European races is that the race takes place at later part of the morning.  So I need not have to wake up especially early just to run.  There was actually a shuttle bus coming over to Mestre to pick up the runners to the start point at Villa Pisani.  Actually, I did not study the route when I signed up for the race, it was on that day when I board the bus that I knew I was going to a Villa, which is now a national museum.  The bus was on time and a lot of runners were already crowding at the bus stop waiting to board.  The bus ride was about 50 min , we were placed at a holding area before being allowed to enter Villa grounds to the start point.  There are some refreshments there some need to be paid like hot coffee.  Its pretty cold, so as usual, I sat there with the Dole plastic sheet to keep myself warm.  We could leave our drop bag at the various truck then and it will be transported to the end point for us to freshen up.

Start!

When we could enter the start point I then realise how pretty Villa Pisani was, although looking old, it was a quiet manor, its such a contrast that colourful runners were inside the historical building. There were some mascots in old venetian clothings for a cameo moment.

The start line was separated into various corrals.  What amazed me most was the abundance of pacers.  There were so many groups even up to 3:15 hr marathon!  The pacers all looked very strong and experienced.  The national anthem was sung and then the flag off.

Running through

To speak the truth, looking back the race course was pretty flat only one part was going down through the under pass and the ending part into Venice island was rather hot as it was mid noon, and the road was closed off for the runners to run in.  It was very barren and warm.  Then it was small bridges after small bridges inside Venice itself as we had to cut through the canals.  That part was a bit mental as the legs were already quite wobbly.  I would say the San Giulamo park and running through San Marco with the plaza as the background was the most iconic parts of the race.

I followed the 3:50hr pacers, hoping to finish around that timing but at 16Km I already puncture and told myself just to finish at a decent timing.  In the end I clocked 4:17hr which to me is quite okay as I was still worrying about my ability to finish the race before 4:30hr.  I am sweating more profusely now compared to younger days, maybe its because I am into late forties now.  By the time I am in San Marco, I looked like I jumped into a pool of water.  Was actually quite struggling going up and down the small bridges in Venice itself and I thought it was like never ending!  Finally like out of no where towards the end of the island, I saw the finish line.  Dashing through the line, I felt so relieved that it is over. Throughly drained, even though the water points have good replenishments and isotonic drinks, all the water were sponsored by St Bernardetto which is a mineral water company and the price is actually not so cheap.

Just not tip top for the race, we were given a finisher pack with some snacks and orange inside.   The event tee was a nice pink colour designed by Joma with a Marco Polo potrait, glad I picked a small size for this one so that I could wear for myself.  After getting the medal and drop bag, I did a quick change up and went up on the boat to the Santa Lucia Train station where I transfer to Mestre again.

I personally enjoyed the race and it was a good way to see the city and enjoy the atmosphere.  Also there were many Aperol Spritz waiting for me after the race 🙂