Striders went on tour once again, this time to the beautiful northern Italian city of Verona, for the 16th edition of the annual marathon, with half marathon and 10k race distances also on offer.  The races offered great weather, a lovely scenic tour of the city (twice if you were lucky enough to complete all 42.2km, though not a double loop) and the most spectacular finish I have ever seen, running around the Verona amphitheatre to a finish with crowds of Italians cheering you on with the somewhat unfriendly sounding Italian word for ‘come on!’ – “dai”.

Robert Ndiwa of Kenya took the marathon victory with a final time of 2h12’51, with the Italian Federica Dal Rì  of Cs Esercito was first lady home in 2h37’45.

Four Striders and 2708 others were hot on their tails in the marathon, here are their results. Special well done to Jo Carnie who has smashed GFA time giving herself a London place for next year. Full results for all races can be found here.