Final countdown to the European Athletics Masters Championships Non Stadia 2022 in Grosseto, Italy. Three days for the competitions of road running, road walking and nordic walking are scheduled from Friday 13th May to Sunday 15th May, preceded by the opening ceremony on Thursday, May 12. About 1200 athletes registered, with over 1600 entries in total at the event that has been presented in the Tuscan city. “We have achieved the goal – said Ernesto Croci, president of the organizing committee and of Track & Field Master Grosseto club – and everything is ready to welcome those arriving in Maremma in the best possible way. As athletes, we focused on what are the needs of the participants: we worked convinced that it would be the first international post-pandemic master event, we then found ourselves organizing a European championship with a war in Europe and in a particular historical moment. Athletes will be rewarded with medals created by the Grosseto craftsman Andrea Cicerale and there will be an official song of the event created by Cinzia Monari together with other local musicians. It was a bet for everyone, but now we have to fully enjoy these days of sport. Thanks to the municipality who supported us, to the federations and to the many volunteers who will help us during the championships”.
Mayor of Grosseto, Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna, declared: “We are thrilled to host an event of international level, with a large number of people that will discover our city. It is a way to give a memory of Grosseto and the Maremma region, which we hope will make the participants want to come back and visit us. A big thank you to the Italian athletics federation president, Stefano Mei, with whom we are also working on future projects”. “With this event – explained the deputy mayor and municipal councilor for sport Fabrizio Rossi – we have attracted many sportsmen to Grosseto who will be able to enjoy the territory. Especially in this difficult period, it is wonderful to see how sport can create a sense of aggregation and belonging to a group”.
Gerardo Vaiani Lisi, outgoing treasurer of European Masters Athletics, underlined: “EMA has chosen the city of Grosseto for the hospitality always demonstrated, with an organizing committee made up of competent enthusiasts who took care of the details also for competition courses. The movement of masters athletics is trying to restart with new enthusiasm in a period with many problems. About thirty Ukrainian athletes are expected, who will have free registration. Our hope is that all the athletes will return home with a heart full of wonderful sports days”.
“We are very happy to take part in this important event which will be held in a beautiful area”, declared the national manager for competitive nordic walking Tiziano Ardemagni. “After a few years as experimental, nordic walking is now an official discipline of athletics, recognized by the Italian Federation, and participating in the EMACNS strengthens the work we are carrying out”. The National Olympic Committee was represented by Elisabetta Teodosio, provincial delegate of Grosseto: “These European Championships are a prestige for sport and for the city. I can only be proud that international sport is once again in Maremma and I thank the organizers who have continued to strongly believe in this event, in a difficult moment”.
The program will be opened and closed by race walking competitions that will take place inside the Sandro Pertini park: 10 km on the morning of Friday 13, then 20 km for women and 30 km for men Sunday afternoon. There are three road running races: 10 km on Friday at 6pm with start and finish from the sports center in via Mercurio, 5 km on Saturday morning from the Sandro Pertini park and finally the half marathon on Sunday morning (8.30am) which will cross the historic center and the Medici walls, while Saturday afternoon at camping Le Marze will be dedicated to nordic walking.