The incredible story of the Maratona dles Dolomites

In 1987, the Società Ciclistica Alta Badia cycling club celebrated its 10th anniversary. For this occasion, a so-called cycling marathon race was organized over 7 Dolomite passes. The organizers called it “Maratona dles Dolomites”. It was 175 kilometers long and led over the Passes Gardena, Sella, Fedaia, Duran, Forcella Staulanza, Falzarego and Valparola. The start and finish point was Pedraces.

166 stalwarts set off on July 12th, including only one woman who had come especially from Holland. The first to cross the finish line after more than 10 hours was the Austrian Wolfgang Steinmayr, who won the Tour of Austria four times in the 1970s. At the time, no one could have imagined what would become of this modest event. More routes, more runners Things got really adventurous the following year when two routes were already offered. There were already 2 registered participants, but due to the rainy weather only 440 took part. We even took a break at the Duran Pass and discussed what to do next. The race continued, but there was no scoring. The last participant only reached the finish line at 417 o'clock in the evening.

The organizers also had no luck with the weather at the 3rd edition, but they did have a prominent guest for the first time. The starting signal was given by Flavio Giupponi, who had recently finished second in the Giro d'Italia. However, the race had to be stopped early at the Giau Pass because it was simply too cold. The number of participants increased year after year. © MdD

At the 4th edition there was a separate Maratona jersey for all participants for the first time. A year later, the 1000 participant mark was broken. There were 1292 (including 32 women) who also took a thunderstorm with hail as a souvenir. The saddest Maratona took place in 1992, when a serious traffic accident occurred in the cold and rain that cost the life of one participant. Necessity is the mother of invention – also a success on TV Two years later, the Maratona reached a new dimension. For the first time there were more than 5000 participants at the start, and the start was no longer in Pedraces, but in Corvara. In 1995 the organizers had to improvise. The 6500 starting numbers and jerseys were not delivered. The numbers were printed in-house and the jerseys were subsequently sent by post.

The event had now become so large that a more professional organizational team was needed. From 2000 onwards, the Maratona was given a theme every year and the number of participants was initially limited to 6000. Unfortunately, there was another fatality that year. Two years later, the Maratona was broadcast live on TV for the first time. It has also become more and more of a VIP event. There were now 3 different routes to choose from, and in 2004 the roads were closed to motorized traffic for the first time. The number of participants has gradually increased to 9000. The starting places have been raffled off for a long time because there are three times as many requests.

The Maratona was canceled once. That was a year ago because of the corona pandemic. Nevertheless, it was possible to complete the Maratona routes individually under the motto “My Maratona dles Dolomites”. This year there will be a real Maratona again, next Sunday, but with “only” 6000 participants.

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The incredible story of the Maratona dles Dolomites

The Maratona dles Dolomites will take place again next Sunday. This means that the popular cycling event is returning after a break of over a year.

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