On April 8 the 18th edition of the Milan Marathon took place on a warm and sunny spring Sunday. It consisted of 2 different races, with the same itinerary of 42 Km. : one classic agonistic marathon and a relay race organized by Charity Program, a great solidarity project created and supported by Milano Marathon , which allows persons to run for a non-profit association, helping it to collect funds.
The relay race was divided into 4 sections, each between 7 and 13 Km and was reserved to non-profit organizations. They could buy runners registrations at a special rate, and give them to a team, which then donates a sum or takes part in the fundraising on “Rete del Dono”, the largest platform in Italy for crowdfunding and personal fundraising. This event had a great success. There were 6900 runners for the agonistic race and more than 3000 teams were registered for the relay race.
Our “Associazione per la Ricerca sulla Distonia” has participated with 6 teams (with 4runners each). The persons who have accepted to “ run 4 Dystonia” are runners who in some cases even don’t know the disease, but agreed to donate a sum for our project about physiotherapy (training some physiotherapists and specialising them in dystonia). The runners were supported by friends and relatives. There were around 100 persons gathered by A.R.D motto: “Insieme si può” (together we can).
A.R.D. had a special runner too, Roberta Valeri. She is a Roman lady who has always loved and practised sports, such as swimming, cycling, and running. Some years ago she began to have symptoms of dystonia, starting from the right foot and then involving the whole right side of her body, which eventually compelled her on a wheelchair. She decided to have a DBS implantation, and in May 2017 she had it done at the “Istituto Besta” in Milan. Roberta had a very good recovery and with determination and strength of mind she began to train again as a sports woman. In Milan she ran a long section of the race (11,7 km) crossing the finishing line tired, but very happy and proud of herself! We are all proud of her strong power of will. She is a very good testimonial for A.R.D and for all people living with dystonia.
Written by:
Maria Carla Tarocchi
Vice President, ARD
Rome, Italy
