Corriamo al Tiburtino

Corriamo al Tiburtino is a competitive 9.9 km road race held in the eastern part of Rome, in the heart of the Tiburtino district, on a Sunday morning in the second half of November. It is organised by ASD Cat Sport Roma, a sports association based on Via Mozart in the Santa Maria del Soccorso area, combining a sports shop with an athletics section. Loyal to its neighbourhood for more than twenty editions, the race has become a regular end-of-season fixture for Rome's running clubs, who come for one last fast outing before winter.

The start is at 9:30 on Via Mozart, which also hosts the finish, on an urban course the organisers describe as perfectly flat. With no hills or sharp changes of rhythm, the distance, just short of ten kilometres, suits runners chasing a fast time as well as those using it as a tune-up for winter half marathons and marathons. Timing is by electronic chip, and results are published by the organising club after the race.

Entry follows the rules of the Italian athletics federation: runners must be at least 18 and registered with FIDAL, another national sports federation or a recognised sports promotion body. Unaffiliated runners aged 20 and over can take part with a Runcard, provided they present a medical certificate of fitness for competitive athletics valid in Italy. Prizes go to the leading finishers in each category, and a club ranking based on the number of finishers per team rewards the teams that turn out in numbers.

The Tiburtino district takes its name from the Via Tiburtina, the ancient consular road linking Rome to Tibur, today's Tivoli, whose modern route still heads out towards the hills of the Aniene valley. Far from the monuments of the historic centre, the race takes place in a residential, working-class Rome, the city's 4th municipality between the Tiburtina and the Aniene valley, where a race run by a local club brings residents, runners and volunteers together every autumn.

Registration is available online, by sending an entry form to the organisers, or in person at the Cat Sport shop from the start of the month; entries close on the Thursday evening before the race, and there is no registration on the day. Bibs and chips are collected the day before, from 10:00 to 18:00, at Cat Sport's premises, Via Mozart 71; only runners travelling from outside the region may, with permission, pick them up on race morning. An ambulance with a doctor and defibrillator follows the field, and the race goes ahead in all weather. The area is served by metro line B at Santa Maria del Soccorso station.