LIVE THE 100 KM

To Tomaso Rondinini

The first time I had the chance to admire your sporting talent, I was a little boy. You played soccer in the team of my parish, S.Andrea, and for the class you put in touching the ball we had nicknamed you D’Artagnan (also because of the similarity with the character of Dumas).

It was always a party when you played and this has always accompanied you.

Then, a few years later, we also played together, in the CO.F.RA. team, in intercompany tournaments. And you have also become my insurer, perhaps a little messy, but also always present and positive here.

But what has fascinated me most in these many years has certainly been your way of experiencing the 100km of the Passatore. Yes, to “live” because you didn’t run it, you breathed it, you cuddled it, you also made fun of it, you lived it. You always started at a good pace, even when you had a backpack that wasn’t even light on your shoulders. And you ran as long as you had. Then, we went step by step, sooner or later we get the same. You never missed an opportunity to encourage others, to have a chat in the refreshment points, even stopping in the unofficial ones, maybe to eat two spaghetti in the face of the stopwatch! You arrived in the morning, maybe even a little tired, but you didn’t deprive us of that smile!

Here, that’s what I wanted to tell you: your way of being an old-fashioned, easy-going and fun-loving sportsman. I have lived many 100km and I have seen this event change, inevitably. Now those who participate are certainly more prepared, attentive and shrewd than before. This is demonstrated by the success of the many arrivals in recent years. And this is beautiful, without a shadow of a doubt. But for a moment let me honor those who, on the other hand, interpreted this challenge with the instinctive joy of a child. To those who have always been, for me, a point of reference to admire, to remind me never to take myself too seriously and that there is always room in life for the purest and most sincere pleasure of the game.

We had to get to the twentieth hundred together, but you made the joke of stopping a little earlier. I know someone, a week ago, placed the medal of the hundred this year next to you. It was a beautiful gesture, which I admire and share. Because, I’m sure, you ran it, from up there, even this year.

Emanuele Tarroni