VENICE – Just under 6 months from 38th Wizz Air Venicemarathon that will take place this year Sunday 27 October, the time has come to put together the team of pacers who will accompany the marathon participants to the finish line in Riva Sette Martiri, in the desired time and with a smile on their faces.
Venicemarathon was a pioneer in this service. The tradition of ‘colored balloons’ began right there Venice Marathon in 1999, when for the first time in Italy the ‘pacemaker’ service was included also for amateurs in an official race: support for the athlete in which Venicemarathon has always believed and placed great emphasis. Last year there were 150 pacers at the Wizz Ar Venicemarathon, of which a third were foreign athletes.
The nominations
Applications then open to take on the prestigious role of pacer of the thirty-eighth edition of one of the most fascinating international marathons in the world. The ‘Call to Action’ will begin today, Friday 10 May and end on Monday 20 May. Interested parties will find the application form, in Italian and English, on the website www.venicemarahon.it, in the specific ‘Pacer’ section.
Features
The selected pacers must have aptitude for dialogue with the athletes, through constant interaction and sharing advice and suggestions on the Venice Marathon’s social channels, becoming ambassador of the event in Italy and abroad. In addition to technical-sporting skills, the pacer must have human skills: to be a real traveling companion, capable of setting the right pace for the race, but also to offer psychological support and the right motivations to help the athlete realize the dream of achieve your personal best or simply win a personal challenge. Another task of the pacer will be to educate the respect for the environment during the race, constantly inviting athletes not to throw any type of waste on the ground. Finally, the pacer will have to enhance thesolidarity aspect of the eventencouraging people to donate to one or more Charity Program projects and becoming a donor himself.
Rome and Venice
The ‘Pacer’ project is part of a wider collaboration between the Venice and Rome marathons. The organizers of the two Italian ‘majors’ are in fact combining forces and intentions to make the most of the two races abroad, through a series of actions such as, for example, the joint presence at the expo of the main international marathons, the construction of a qualified pacer and other activities related to the social and solidarity aspect.
The management and coordination of the pacers of the 38th Wizz Air Venicemarathon will therefore see the collaboration between the pacer manager of Rome Federica Romano and Marica Tozzato of Venicemarathon, who will have the task of receiving the applications, selecting the athletes and preparing the best team.
