European Records were broken during the Pink Ribbon 5km Hoka despite the fickle weather: Which ones?
More than 2,700 runners and walkers gathered for the running festival in Monaco.
This past weekend, the Monaco Run Gramaglia celebrated its 14th edition in mixed weather conditions. The event, organized by the Monegasque Athletics Federation, spanned two days with rather unkind weather, but that did not dampen the participants’ good spirits.
On Saturday, February 10th, extreme rain unfortunately forced the organizers to cancel what would have been the first edition of the Mont Agel Trail. The weather, which almost spoiled the party, did not diminish the joy of the 550 runners present when at last they reached the finish of their challenging event.
The City Trail
Participants registered for the Mont Agel Trail who wished to do so could join instead the City Trail starting at 8:45 a.m. Despite the continuing torrential rain, the brave competitors tackled over 1,100 steps uphill. Slovenian Timotej BECAN claimed first place with a time of 45:19. Sébastien POESY, a regular at the event, and Nejc URSIC (another Slovenian) completed the podium in 47:22 and 48:44, respectively.
Among women, Hungarian Vanda LOVEI won in 56:21 ahead of Aurélie DELATTAIGNANT (58:03) and Katia Lisa OPERTA (58:38).
AS Monaco ~ The first members of the AS Monaco Athletics team to finish the race were Goeffrey LANOE in 4th place and Nadezhda SOLOVEVA in 5th place.
Families Relay with Paula Radcliffe
Families were then honoured at 4 p.m. st Port Hercule during the Families on Track event. Around twenty families of 3 to 5 people accompanied Paula RADCLIFFE to complete a 5km relay without ranking while the weather became more lenient.
The sun makes an appearance on Sunday in the 5km Hoka
On Sunday, February 11th, with the sun finally returning, two road races were on the schedule: the 5km Hoka and the 10km. Both races quickly had sold out to reach a total of 1,700 runners at the starting line. A great success for these two races over official, certified distances. Many spectators lined the course to cheer on their loved ones and contribute to a great atmosphere.
The flagship event of the Monaco Run, the 5km Hoka, which started at 9 a.m., saw the triumph of Frenchman Yann SCHRUB in 13:22 closely followed by Abdullahi Dahir RABI (Norway) (13:24). Niels LAROS (13:26) completed the podium with a time of 13:26, which allowed him to set the national record for the Netherlands and the best U20 European performance in history. Holder of the Junior French record for the 5km since his participation in the Monaco Run in 2023, Nils SERRE-GEHRI took advantage of his return to the Principality to improve his time by 21 seconds and achieve a time of 13:55. The first member of AS Monaco, Armand IUREA, finished 94th overall.
Amazing Women
Among women, the victory went to Likina AMEBAW (Ethiopia) in 14:35 ahead of Selah BUSIENEI (Kenya) in 15:15 and Julia VAN VELTHOVEN (Netherlands) in 15:38. It is worth noting the remarkable performance of the French talent Laly POLENTRU, who ran this 5km Hoka in 16:18, allowing her to set the French records for Cadet (U18) and Junior (U20) categories at the same time. Finally, Julia DALE was the first member of AS Monaco with a time of 19:45.
The 10km
In the 10km, Anthony BARRIERE took the victory with a time of 30:43. Behind him, we find Quentin SUCCO from AS Monaco (30:48) and Jules BARRIOD (31:07). Professional cyclist Bauke MOLLEMA also made a name for himself by securing 4th place (31:40)!
On the women’s side, the victory went to Marie PERRIER, Mauritian Olympic athlete, who crossed the finish line in 35:09. Jennifer ELVIN and AS Monaco’s Adriana DI GUISTO GRIGORAS completed the podium with times of 37:33 and 37:55, respectively.
Kind Hearts of The Pink Ribbon Charity Walk
Finally, as part of the Monaco Run, the Pink Ribbon charity walk was organized, the traditional walk in support of the fight against breast cancer, which brought together nearly 300 participants in the streets of the Principality.
