We Run For Women Vigevano

We Run For Women is a 9.7 km road race held in Vigevano, in the province of Pavia, on a Sunday morning in late November. It is organised by Buccella Run & Bike, the Vigevano running club better known as Buccella Runners, which launched the event in 2024. Listed on the regional calendar of the Italian athletics federation (FIDAL), the race is backed by the town council and relies on Croce Azzurra Vigevano for medical cover. It also counts as a round of the Trofeo Strade Pavesi, the province's road-running series, which guarantees a solid field of runners from clubs across Lomellina and the Pavia area.

Runners gather from 8:00 in the car park of the Mondo Brico store on Viale Industria, where race office and bag drop are located. The start is at 9:30 on a 9.7 km route that is 95 per cent tarmac, with the remainder on a short stretch of dirt track. The course is not certified, so it is not a place for records, but it offers a format slightly shorter than a classic 10K on largely flat ground typical of the Ticino plain. Timing is by an ankle-worn chip, which must be handed back at the finish.

The race is competitive and follows FIDAL rules: it is open to federation members from the under-18 category upwards, to members of affiliated sports promotion bodies, and to Runcard holders aged 20 and over. As with any competitive race in Italy, a medical certificate of fitness for competitive athletics is required. Prizes go to the top three overall and the top three in each age group, from under-23 to over-70, and there is no cut-off time: the finish stays open until the last runner comes home.

Vigevano, a Lomellina town close to the Ticino river, owes its fame to the Lombard Renaissance. Under Ludovico Sforza, known as il Moro, the centre was redesigned around Piazza Ducale, an arcaded square framed by the Baroque façade of the cathedral and by the tower that marks the Sforza castle. Long known as Italy's shoemaking capital, the town is surrounded by rice fields and by the woods of the Ticino valley nature park, a flat farming landscape criss-crossed by canals.

Bibs can be collected at the Mondo Brico car park on Saturday afternoon from 15:00 to 18:00, or on race morning between 8:00 and 9:00; a third party may pick them up with a signed proxy and a copy of the runner's ID. Online registration closes on the Thursday evening before the race and includes a goody bag, drinks stations on the course and at the finish, bag drop, toilets and medical cover with a doctor and two ambulances. Clubs receive one free entry for every ten runners registered.