The Rome Marathon in Italy is an annual prestigious event. Just like in previous years, 92-year-old Italian runner Antonio Rao participated in this year’s race last month. This was Rao’s 30th consecutive completion of the race, and his performance even improved from last year, showing that age is just a number.
According to the Canadian Running Magazine, the race took place in Rome on March 16th. Rao completed the race in 6 hours, 44 minutes, and 16 seconds, which was approximately 10 minutes faster than his time from the previous year of 6 hours, 54 minutes, and 0 seconds.
In an interview with Runner’s World Italia, Rao admitted that he had doubts about finishing this year’s race. “I have not been feeling well lately, and I doubted if I could complete it. Surprisingly, I finished 10 minutes faster than last year,” he said. Rao added, “Running, walking is life. I invite everyone to do the same.”
Interestingly, just weeks before participating in this race, Rao also completed a half marathon with a time of 2 hours and 54 minutes, showing that despite his age, his legs still have some speed left in them.
Rao was born in 1933 in Calabria, southern Italy, and grew up in evacuation. It is said that he left home for Rome when he was just over 10 years old. Since then, you could say his life has been a long marathon.
Since the Rome Marathon began in 1983, Rao has participated in every edition, this being the 30th edition (with some years skipped in the 1990s and 2000s). He encourages people to participate in races and stay active.
At this year’s event, the male and female champions both hailed from Kenya. Male champion Robert Ngeno finished the race in 2 hours, 7 minutes, and 35 seconds, while female champion Betty Chepkwony completed it in 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 16 seconds, about 19 minutes longer than Ngeno.
The marathon is a test of endurance in long-distance running. The full marathon distance was set at 42 kilometers 195 meters by World Athletics in 1921.
As recognized by World Athletics, the current world record for the men’s marathon is 2 hours, 0 minutes, and 35 seconds, set by Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.