Padova Marathon 2025
/10 Things I Think About The Padova Marathon 2025
1. Football Italia
I think that if it wasn’t for watching Football Italia on Network 2 back when I was 10 years old I wouldn’t have been so keen on running the Padova marathon. 1996 was a great year, I was 10 which is probably one of the best numbers to be, Padova were in Serie A and there was the perfect amount of Football on TV not the incessant unfollowable amount there is now. Fast forward to 2025, Serie A is not on RTE, Padova are in Serie C and I prefer running to football.
2. B Here Now
I think that it was fitting that my arrival in Padova coincided with the promotion of Padova from Serie C to Serie B. We arrived on the Friday evening from Venice oblivious to the important football match that was taking place at 4pm. Rhona and I went for a jog around the Prato delle Valle only to have our planned route blocked by a flash mob letting off flares and smoke bombs, we diverted through the city streets where we saw lunatics on scooters and a gravel truck full of jubilant Padovans touring the town celebrating promotion.
3. Training Marathon
I think that aside from football the other reason I wanted to do the Padova marathon is that it is five weeks before the Cork Marathon and I don’t like doing long runs so it was the perfect way to get a good long run in. While Strava stalking I’ve noticed that the new trend with the young fellas who watch YouTubers is 23 mile long runs at about 6 minute mile pace, sure why not just do a marathon at 6 minute mile pace, same thing really plus it would be warm and sunny in Padova just like Cork.
4. Trams and Buses
I think that Padova is very similar to Cork, it has a very old university, a population of about 250,000 and a boom and bust football club. Unlike Cork it has a nice new tram system which we used to get to the Marathon Expo which was very like a big marathon Expo with lots of stalls. It was very straightforward to pick up the bibs and nice t-shirts although they did look for Rhona’s medical certificate again which was fine as I had it on the phone. There were doctor clowns for Billy so a very good expo.
5. Logistics
I think that it is very important when you are doing marathons abroad to look up the logistics of the event. Unfortunately I got a bit distracted before Padova and hadn’t a clue where the race started, all I looked up was the finish so that I could book accommodation by the finish. At the Expo I discovered that the marathon started at the Padova Football ground which is sort of like if they built the Bertie Bowl but maybe say in Curraheen, to complicate matters Rhona was doing the half which started in Abano Terme about 13 miles away. Luckily we had a car and the football stadium had a huge solar panel covered parking lot so we could park there and then there was a bus to take Rhona to the start of the half. It all made sense when we got there and was exceptionally well organized which is the great thing about Italian races.
6. Il Canto degli Italiani
I think that if there is one thing that we should do at races here that they do in Italy is that we should start playing the national anthem before race starts. The marathon started on the road outside the parking lot for the stadium. There were two or three elite men and women introduced. Then we had a minutes silence for Papa Francesco followed by the Italian National anthem. Then we were underway on a road not too dissimilar to if you started the Cork marathon in the car park of the Grehound stadium at Curraheen.
7. Tranquillo
I think that I will do more marathons like I did Padova. It was great not to have the pressure of holding some silly pace for a sub 2:30 marathon that no one cares about except yourself and your huge ego. I was aiming for somewhere between 2:38 and 2:44 depending on the weather so I started at about 6:05 minute mile pace and eventually after about 5 miles found myself in a nice group with the lead Italian lady, her male pacer and most likely her coach on a bike. The race route was mostly on country roads with nice green fields, there were no hills, there was no wind and it was a little warm and sunny.
8. Bravo! Brava! Bravi!
I think that the training marathon plan went excellently until about halfway. I went through halfway with my group in exactly 1:20. I wore the AlphaFly 3 because while they are not very fast they are by far the shoe that results in the least post-race badness which was my main concern. I continued to bounce along with my group listening to the bravas for the lady and the bravis for myself and the pacer. It was all good until we ran into the back of the half marathon at around 16 miles, there was a slight headwind and I found myself getting distanced from the bravas and having to make do with bravo.
9. Nuns, Run
I think that the support on the route was great, there were crowds out in every little town we ran through with water stops with bottles every 5km. Padova is a very religious place with the Church of St Anthony in the last kilometer of the race route so it was no surprise to see lots of nuns out of the course supporting the runners. The last two miles of the race were almost entirely on cobbled streets with spectacular architecture everywhere if you weren’t too tired to look around. I seemed to be very good at the cobbles so I caught back up to my initial group for the finish and an encore of the bravis that I had become used to.
10. Sister Event
I think that the finish of the race on the Prato that had been blocked by the Padova supporters on the Friday evening was very nice. There was a big gantry like in an big city marathon and a huge crowd out watching in the sunshine. I ended up finishing in 18th position and 3rd moderately old man. There was even a prize for the third moderately old man but I didn’t get it because I forgot to look up the details of the prizegiving assuming that I wouldn’t be anywhere near a prize. So if you like the Cork marathon, the Padova marathon is basically the sister event, very similar but with added nuns and Italian flair. I’d recommend it.
How to Get There:
Fly from Cork to Venice Marco Polo with Ryanair, 45 minutes from the airport to Padova.
Rented a car from Sicily by Car.
Parked at the Parcheggio Prato della Valle, parking was a bit hectic during the day but loads of places at night. It was €15 for 24 hours.
Where to Stay:
We stayed at the Padova Suites C20. The room had a fabulous view of St Anthony’s Church. Our room didn’t have a kitchen which would have been handy but the beds were wonderful and it had blackout blinds. There was a nice cafe downstairs.
Where to Eat:
Pizzeria Al Borgo had wonderful pizza just across the road from the accommodation.
