Serpie Planner - event reports
Palma de Mallorca 10km (12 Sep 2021)
Race report kindly provided by Charles Pridgeon
“The Parma 10k as part of the Parma half marathon is an all-Italian (I was the only foreigner) small race (257 runners) that is run very professionally with a big race level of organisation and atmosphere. Standards are high with the men’s winner coming home in 29:59. The two fastest women were around the 40 minute mark.
The course is well thought out with a fast first half on wide boulevards switching to a more technical and scenic route for the last 5 k’s. The route goes through the Ducal park on hard packed earth and then into the old town on cobbles, marble slabs, large paving slabs, and everything apart from asphalt.
The organisation was impeccable with a well thought out Covid plan involving dots on the ground a metre apart to stand on in the waiting pen, staggered start, temperature control before entering the pen and having to wear a mask for the first two hundred metres (there were large bins to dispose them which was easy). New masks were provided after the finish line.
Running a race in Italy requires a certain amount of dedication to get through the administrative hoops. You need a temporary athletics licence which you can get from a site called Runcard. That will give you the licence to enter races, but every race requires a medical certificate no older than 12 months which needs to be in a certain format and involves a doctor signing off on ECG’s, lung and urine tests etc. Wearisome !
But worth it for running through cultural gems like Parma, taking a weekend to enjoy the wonderful hospitality, food, museums and art of Italian cities takes some beating. Grazie !”