There are just a few minutes left until midnight when the last athlete of the 5,000 m. crosses the finish line and effectively closes the 28th edition of Ferrarameeting which began with the first gun from the starter shortly after 7 pm.
The 2024 edition of the historic track athletics event organized by Atletica Estense brought record numbers with 520 classified athletes and an audience that packed the stands and the stalls of the G. Lenzi training field until the last race. Was it due to the recent European Athletics Championships? The desire to (re)discover the Queen of Sports? The desire to spend an evening supporting all the athletes without having to take sides? It was certainly a sporting success and highly attended event.
Already notable are the results in the youth competitions where Annamaria Cirelli (Atl. Bondeno) won the 60 m. in 8″35 among the U14s, as valuable as Martina Bettoni’s 10″58 (Atl. Riccardi Milano) in the 80 m. and 2’41” in the 1,000 m. by Ernesto Grossi from Rimini. Also on the podium or close to it are the many male and female athletes from the main teams in our province. The women’s 100 meters was electrifying with Alice Melotti (Atletica Estense) who vented the anger of a still uncertain season and won in an excellent 12″19, dragging Alice Cecchin from Forlì and her teammate Vicky Ferrari close to their limits. A special mention for the two Ferrarese Melotti and Ferrari who, with Carolina Poli and Giulia Marchetti, in the national Challenge in Brescia demolished the provincial record of the 4×100 by running in 47″64, coming close to accessing the Absolute Italian Championships.
In the men’s 100m Emanuele Brunello (Atl. Vicentina) confirmed the prediction by winning in 10”62 with Lorenzo Basco (Cus Ferrara) eighth in 11”35, as for the women’s sprint Mirko Rimessi will represent Avis Provinciale Odv, the main supporter of the event, to reward the best.
The women’s long jump spoke Tuscan with Sara Luce (Atl. Sestese) who reached 5.34 meters and Giulia Marchetti (Atletica Estense) who stopped at 4.50 meters for eleventh place. The men’s high jump had no Ferrarese protagonists but a great challenge between Andrea Magnano (Milone Siracusa) and Marco Vendrame (Fratellanza Modena) tied at the end at 2.04 meters. Great duels in the very popular 800 meters, in the best series ten athletes under 2’00” with Marco Torresin (Cus Ferrara) who gave up the victory in the photo finish to Cesare Tagliani from Modena tied at the finish line at 1’54” with the seventh place of Andrea Pedrazzi (Atletica Copparo) improved to 1’57”14.
Cycling “volleyball” in the women’s 800 with four athletes throwing themselves at the finish line, Giada Donati (Assindustria Pd) wins by a few tenths with 2’10”89 with her teammate Anna Raimondi who at the same time wins the javelin throw reaching 45.67 m. with Barbara Basaglia (Cus Fe) in fifth place at 34.58 m. The women’s 5,000 meters were “very tight” from the first meters with Caterina Mangolini (Atletica Estense) who stayed close to the leading trio as much as possible except to break away shortly after the halfway point, she will be fourth with 17’51” her best time 2024, the victory goes to Giulia Vettor (Cus Parma) in 17’11” who leaves the others at the bell of the last lap. A similar tactical approach was used in the best series of the men’s 5,000 with the Tuscan duel between Ayoub Bouras (Atl. Maiano Fi) and Miguel Espouna (Atl. Firenze) who finished in 14’41” and 14’44” with a beautiful performance by the junior from Polisportiva Centese Abraham Carson Gotti who finished fourth in 14’46” taking even more seconds off his now old personal best.
Representing the Department of Sport and perhaps even more of a protagonist of the golden age of Ferrara cross-country skiing, Fausto Molinari is responsible for awarding the protagonists of the specialties dear to him. But before the 5,000, it was the challenges of the 4×400 relays that excited the still large audience that remained, a home challenge in the women’s field with Cus Ferrara (Emma Brina, Elena Bonafè, Silvia Fortunato, Maia Vocca) who wins in 4’10” over Atletica Estense (Giulia Marchetti, Anna Mangolini, Alice Marzola, Alice Campanini) who give up four seconds on the finish line to the Cus girls. Absolute domination by Corradini Rubiera among the men with 3’23”, far behind the other teams with Atletica Estense (Davide Novelli, Matteo Fioravanti, Federico Rea, Gregorio Zampini) in ninth place in 3’42”. It was just after midnight when Atletica Estense thanked the judges, the public and the athletes who had come from most of Italy.
