Feltre (Italy), Saturday 25 August 2012

The Giro delle Mura races are held annually on a summer night in late August in the old hilltop town of Feltre which is situated at the foot of the Dolomites in northern Italy.

The event will begin at 5pm with the 10k amateur races which draw around 500 runners every year. Participants will run two laps of a scenic and accurately-measured but challenging course around Feltre's walled Old Town. The route is undulating and partly on cobbles.

At 7.45pm will be held the 10k European Championships for Firefighters which had over 200 finishers last year.

After that, at 9pm, about 100 young athletes (12 to 14 years old) will try hard to win the prestigious ‘Miglio dei Comuni’, a 1-mile run (1,609 metres).

The first elite race—‘Running Seven Laps’—will start at 9.30pm. Eight relay teams, each consisting of one man and one woman, will dash around a 400-metre loop course. One after another, the slowest team will be eliminated.

Eagerly awaited will be the ‘Top Runners’ 9.5k men's race which will start at 10pm. The course consists of nine laps. Last year, thirty elite athletes took part in the race. The winner was Serhyi Lebid of Ukraine, who has earned fame for winning the European Cross Country Championships nine times.

Race information:

Country: Italy

Venue (Map): Feltre (77km from Trento, 90km from Venice, 136km from Verona, 195km from Trieste)

Date: 25 August 2012 (Saturday)

Race distance: 10km (certified by FIDAL); 1 mile (runners born 1998-2000), 9.45km elite race (men only)

Start time: 17.00-19.45 (10km races); 21.00-21.15 (1 mile races); 21.30 ("7 laps"); 22.00 ("Top Runners" 9.5km)

Start and finish: in the town centre of Feltre

Entries: online or by fax (up to 24 August 2012); entrants may have to provide a medical certificate at registration and pay an extra €7 if they are not members of a recognized athletics club

Entry fees: €16 (up to 18 August 2012), €19 (up to 24 August 2012)

Timing: TDS (included in the entry fees)

Race centre: Palestra Vittorino, Feltre (on the day from 14.00)

You get: goody bag, chip timing

Prizes: (?)

Showers and changing facilities: yes

Award ceremony: 20.15 (10km amateurs), 21.20 (10km firefighters)

Number of finishers 2011: 481 (10km amateurs); 217 (10km firefighters), 98 (1 mile), 8 relay teams ("Running Seven Laps"), 30 (9.45km elite race)

Event website: www.girodellemura.it

No guarantee is made as to the accuracy or thoroughness of the information on this page.