The Saint Anthony Marathon — Padua, Italy
For seventeen editions, from 2000 to 2016, the last Sunday of April in Padua belonged to the Maratona di Sant'Antonio — the Saint Anthony Marathon. It was a spring road marathon over the classic 42.195 km, run on fully closed roads across two provinces of the Veneto, and it took its name from the road it followed: the route along which, in June 1231, the dying friar Anthony was carried by ox cart from Camposampiero to the gate of Padua.
This site is an independent archive of that race, kept by people who have run those roads. It is not the official website of the marathon and has no connection with the organisation that stages the event today; anyone looking for current dates, entry conditions or live results should go to the current official race organisation. What we keep here is the historical record of the Sant'Antonio years — the courses, the roll of honour, the road and the city — because that record is no longer gathered anywhere else.
Where the race came from
The event began in 1988 as the Maratona di Vedelago, a national-level marathon organised by a local athletics group in Vedelago, in the province of Treviso. It ran under that name for twelve editions. In 2000 a Padua sports organisation took it over, moved the finish south into the city and renamed it the Maratona di Sant'Antonio. The first edition under the new name was run on 30 April 2000, in the Jubilee year.
The founding idea was set out plainly on this domain at the time, and it is worth quoting, because it explains everything the race later became:
The Saint Anthony marathon will not only be a celebration of the Jubilee, it will be a commemoration of Saint Anthony's last journey, a re-discovery of the artistic and cultural treasures of Padua, Vedelago and all the towns located along the race course. It will also be a means for financing various charities.
Four things at once, in other words: a race, a pilgrimage, a tour of the Veneto and a fundraiser. The Sant'Antonio years held all four together, which is what made the event unusual among Italian spring marathons.
The course, from Vedelago to Padua
From 2000 to 2010 the marathon started in Vedelago and finished in Padua, passing through nine towns on the way: Vedelago, Castelfranco Veneto, Resana, Loreggia, Camposampiero, San Giorgio delle Pertiche, Campodarsego, Cadoneghe and Padua. The original English course page called the itinerary flat, slightly downhill, winding through the two most beautiful provinces of the Venetian region — a description that was accurate rather than promotional. It was a fast course, and it produced fast times.
In 2011 the agreement with Vedelago ended and the start moved to Campodarsego, with the finish in Prato della Valle. In 2016 the course was rebuilt around Padua altogether, starting at the Stadio Euganeo and running out through Rubano, Selvazzano Dentro, Teolo and Abano Terme before returning to Prato della Valle. The course page describes all three layouts, together with the technical conditions: the eight-hour limit, the closed roads, the coach transfer out to the start and the drop-out service back.
Saint Anthony's Road
The stretch between Camposampiero and the Arcella quarter of Padua is called the Via del Santo, the road of the Saint. Between May and June 1231, after the exhaustion of Lent and Easter preaching in Padua, friar Anthony rested at the Franciscan settlement at Camposampiero. On 13 June, mortally ill, he asked to be carried home to Padua, and he died at Arcella, at the gate of the city, before he could reach the centre. The Anthonian sanctuaries stand along that road, and the Basilica del Santo at the end of it. The essay the race itself published about that journey is restored in full elsewhere in this archive.
Running against childhood leukaemia
From its earliest editions the marathon carried a charitable purpose, and it was a specific one. Padua has long been one of Italy's principal centres for the fight against childhood leukaemia, and money raised through the race went towards building a hospital facility where young patients and their families could stay during treatment. The mascot was a rabbit called Freccia — "arrow" in Italian — a name chosen by the children of a primary school in Camposampiero, in their own words, "because it aims to hit leukaemia just as an arrow does".
The runs through the city
Alongside the marathon there were shorter routes, non-competitive and open to everyone, all leaving from Prato della Valle: 7 km through the heart of Padua to the Basilica, 4.5 km through the medieval centre, and a 1 km walk for older people and for people with disabilities. A 2 km Children's Marathon set off at 9.15. In later years a half marathon, a 10 km and a 5 km were added. For one morning the traffic stopped and the city belonged to people on foot, which remains the best argument for a city marathon anywhere.
What happened to the race
In 2017 the event was renamed the Padova Marathon. It still runs in late April, on a course based around the city, under a Padua sports organisation and on its own official website. The Saint Anthony name therefore covers the seventeen editions from 2000 to 2016, and that is the span this archive documents. The continuity of the event is recorded in the calendars of AIMS and of the Italian athletics federation, FIDAL.
Using this archive
The English section is a short summary in four pages: this one, the course, Saint Anthony's Road and the race results, which carry the winners and times for every edition from 2000 to 2016. The fuller archive is in Italian, as the race itself was. Begin with the history of the race for the edition-by-edition story, and with the albo d'oro for the complete results.