Water Marathon, Kenyans dominate in Rome

The Water Marathon brought a record participation of 28 athletes to the streets of Rome, a gesture of solidarity towards Pope Francis and the predictable domination of Kenya for the strictly sporting part. Now in its thirtieth edition, the Rome Marathon reached 50 participants if we also count those of the 5 km on Saturday, and at the finish line saw the triumph of the Kenyan Robert Ngeno, better than the Italian Daniele Meucci who finished in eighth place in 2h12'44”. Ngeno made the decisive push towards the 35th kilometer, going on to win in 2h07'35”. «I am very happy with this victory, it was beautiful to run on the streets of Rome», he said at the end. Behind him were two other Kenyans, Brian Kipsang at 15 seconds and Joshua Kogo, in 2h08'01”. In the women's race, Kenyan Betty Chepkwony achieved her second personal victory in Rome after the one in 2023, this time with a time of 2h26'16”, ahead of Ethiopian Gebre (2h28'22”) and another Kenyan Kangogo (2h31'16”).

But it wasn't just the sports race: the Acea Runa Rome The Marathon, which for years has also celebrated the relationship between sport and water resources, expressed its closeness to Pope Francis with 42 seconds of silence and the reading of the Angelus to welcome last year's marathon runners. The start from the Imperial Forums was given by the mayor, Roberto Gualtieri. The President of Acea, Barbara Marinali, participated in the awards ceremony, awarding the second place in the men's category, Kipsang. Along the 42 kilometers of the route, the ACEA Group set up twenty refreshment points where something like 330 thousand bricks of water were distributed over the two days. The hashtag of the race, #runforwater, was also designed to spread a culture based on the protection of the resource, on reuse and recycling. Rome is the place where hydraulic science was born and the first aqueducts in history were built.