Camminata di Castenaso - Circuito Città di Castenaso

The Camminata di Castenaso - Circuito Città di Castenaso is a long-standing road race on the plain east of Bologna. Organised by Atletica Castenaso Celtic Druid, it was held for many years at the end of February before moving to the autumn, and today it brings together under one banner a popular camminata with some fifty editions behind it and the Circuito Città di Castenaso, a national-level race on the calendar of the Italian Athletics Federation (FIDAL). The day also honours the memory of Moreno Veronese, with a trophy for the first man in the 50-54 age group.

The competitive programme is built on two distances, 5 km and 10 km, run on roads closed to traffic over federation-certified courses. The way runners are split is unusual: the 5 km, starting at 9:47 am, brings together all the women's categories, under-18 boys and men aged 60 and over, while the 10 km, starting at 10:00 am, gathers all the other men's categories, seniors and masters. The course is flat, as befits the plain, with no notable difficulty, which makes it a good place to chase a personal best. The races are open from the under-18 category upwards to FIDAL members, Runcard holders with a valid competitive medical certificate and members of clubs affiliated to a foreign federation.

Runners meet at 8:30 am at Casa Bondi on Via dello Sport, at the heart of the town's sports area. Timing is by chip, results are posted on site during the morning to speed up the prize-giving, then published online. Besides the overall leaders, the best in each age category receive food prizes, and men's and women's club rankings reward the strongest teams. Entries are taken online and close a few days before the race.

Alongside the timed races, the non-competitive camminata ludico-motoria keeps the original spirit of the event alive, with loops of about 11 km, 5.5 km and 2.5 km open to walkers and runners alike, an early-morning start and individual entry possible until a few minutes before the off. Traditionally, on the day before, the club also stages a youth race, I Giovani King, on the athletics track on Via dello Sport.

Castenaso lies east of Bologna along the Idice river, in flat countryside of fields and small villages. Archaeologists know it well: it was in the hamlet of Villanova that the cemeteries giving their name to the Villanovan culture, one of the earliest Iron Age cultures on the Italian peninsula, were unearthed in the mid-19th century. The town also keeps the memory of Gioachino Rossini, who stayed at the villa of his wife, the soprano Isabella Colbran. A flat race, then, but in an area steeped in history, just a few kilometres from the centre of Bologna.