05/10/2026
As dawn broke on parkrun's 22nd birthday weekend we had breakfast at Masseria Provenzani, near Casalabate and wondered, would it be busy, would there be many visitors and would anyone be wearing a tutu. No yes and a veritable tribe of tutus answered the queries. So quite a few parkmates must have got the tutu memo and colluded to turn this whim into a thing. I'm not sure it translates to Italian.
Julie and I had planned this trip (without tutus) to be our penultimate Italian event and hoped to finish the set at Favorita of all fifteen Italian parkruns by the end of October.
It's been a long and wonderful journey and we have made some revisits too.
Enter stage right Serenhello and Tione. Oh dear, we'll have to visit two more parts of Italy. It's tough.
This morning's assembled throng included no brand new parkmates and of the 27 on the start line, 15 were visiting for the very first time including several O'Reilly's celebrating Mary's forthcoming 70th birthday. Mary has completed all Irish parkruns and son Bry has completed all the events in Ulster. I think they like touring. We also had visitors from Scotland, Wales and England and i'm sure there was at least one Australian too.
We met Mark and Mary before the start and discovered they spend quite a bit of time, about six months of the year out here. They then took us through the first timer's welcome and the facts of the day. I think this is the first time I have been to a parkrun where there were no milestones and no brand new runners!
OH Julie has one of those new fangled 300 ones in two weeks so I'll give her an honorary mention and also give a mention to Giacomo Cannilla, who can back a red V50 after his next stint as a volunteer!
Having had the course clearly explained and had it emphasised we didn't want any scraped knees this week we were poised and ready to go and then held up for a late arrival....there's always one.
We set off round the fast and flat two lap course on a day that was slightly warmer than I had hoped. I was glad to be wearing a vest and pleased to have remembered my cap. I really enjoy trail courses and this was a sharp contrast to Milan, Foro Italico and Mura di Lucca yet also completely different to Sabine, Etna or Roma Pineto.
The ground underneath our feet contains a lot of history including quite a few shells and fossils. I do love the variety of parkrun.
Post parkrun the team had supplied replacement fluids in the form of fruit juice, water and energy drinks and a plethora of cake. We stayed for a quick drink and short catch up before heading back for a chat about missing our checkout time of 10.00. It's all part of the experience.
Despite the course being good underfoot, none of our 12 returners bagged a PB and I am certain the heat played a big part as probably did common sense.
Fabio Macchia was the first man to cross the line and did so for the eighth time today from his 38 finishes, all of which have been at Salento. I think he likes it here.
First lady home was another O'Reilly, Aisling this time. Three mentions for the same family seems enough so I hope Fiona and Joe don't feel left out!
Finally, a huge thanks to the team for a fabulous morning, for providing the refreshments at the end, for getting the results out faster than any Italian team we have encountered so far and for making us all feel so welcome.
Long may you continue.
Best wishes
Mark
A273589
Forest of Dean via Scotland and Wales
This week 27 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 15 were first timers and no one recorded a new Personal Best. Representatives of 7 different clubs took part.
The event was made possible by 13 volunteers: Julia BOYD • Saverio CANNILLA • Mark MCLELLAN • Luana MARAGLINO • Nadia TREVISANI • Mary GALASHAN • Anna ORLANDO • Carlo SPERTI • Amerigo SABETTA • Giacomo CANNILLA • Cosima BARLETTA • Valerio PFISTER and Pasquale QUARTA
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Salento parkrun Results Page: https://www.parkrun.it/salento/results/361/
Salento parkrun started on 5th May 2018. Since then 1,802 participants have completed 5,779 parkruns covering a total distance of 28,895 km, including 591 new Personal Bests. A total of 313 individuals have volunteered 2,639 times.
