Paying taxes and birthdays are among the many few annual certainties in life. To that checklist, you may add Italian masters runner Antonio Rao lacing up for the Rome Marathon. On Sunday, the 92-year-old accomplished his thirtieth consecutive Rome Marathon, ending in a time of 6:44:16.
This marks the third time Rao has run the marathon in his 90s. He accomplished final yr’s occasion in 6:54:00 and set an Italian males’s 90+ age-group file in 2023 with a formidable time of 6:14:44. To nobody’s shock, he’s gained his M90+ age class the final three years.
In an interview with Runner’s World Italia, Rao admitted doubting whether or not he might end this yr’s race. “I haven’t been feeling effectively recently, and I didn’t assume I might end it,” mentioned Rao. “As an alternative, I completed with a time 10 minutes quicker than final yr.”
Regardless of being 92, Rao has confirmed he nonetheless has some velocity in his legs. Within the weeks main as much as the marathon, he additionally accomplished a half-marathon in two hours and 54 minutes.
Complimentissimi al giovane Antonio Rao di anni 92, per avere chiuso la Roma Ostia in 2h54’40” pic.twitter.com/BrleyKK7ti
— pier luigi pinna (@pierpi13) March 4, 2025
Born in 1933 in Calabria, Rao grew up on the run, reportedly leaving house as a youngster to make his option to Rome. Since then, you would say his life has been one lengthy, metaphoric marathon.
Rao has participated within the Acea Run Rome Marathon yearly since its inception in 1983 (there have been a number of years the race was not held within the 90s and the 2000s), with this yr’s occasion marking the race’s thirtieth anniversary. “Working and strolling is life,” says Rao, who encourages anybody not immersed within the exercise but to offer it a attempt.
The lads’s and ladies’s titles at this yr’s Rome Marathon had been gained by a pair of Kenyan runners. Robert Ngeno took the boys’s victory, crossing the road in 2:07:35, whereas Betty Chepkwony gained the ladies’s race in 2:26:16, ending 19 minutes later. For full outcomes, view right here.