Cles, themain center of Val di Non, the apple area in Trentino, once again hosts the one that has always been the most beautiful athletic event in Italy.
Almost 1.000 athletes/race to challenge for U16 boys and girls individual title and for the Team-level at the Region.
But is not enough; today's race was also the last valid test of the U16 National Trophy taking place on three trials (one on road and two on a track of 3,000m for girls and one on road and two on track 5.000m for boys).
3,000m track walk U16 girls
The female race is divided into two timed session by the technical delegate given the high attendance.
The first session saw at the start 16 athletes.
To win this session is Giulia Borzì in 15:50.12, followed by Maria Sole Franeschi in 15:55.93 and Eleonora Massa in 15.37.36.
But it is the second session the most important and are in 19 starting.
Accreditation times do not give up.
Wins with an advantage of ten meters the athlete of Abruzzo Angela Di Fabio in 14:49.17.
Second place to the athlete of Lombardia Martina Casiraghi in 14:56.81,
For the bronze medal, there is a shoulder to shoulder at the limits of the rule, up to the finish line.
The athlte of Toscana Luce Accordi is third in 15:23.39 and fourth place to Martina Ticozzi (always of Abruzzo) in 15:23.43.
It is pleasing to see two athletes in the Abruzzo region in the first five.
This region has always been very fruitful for race walking (let us remember only two names of the past: Vittorio Visini and Giovanni De Benedictis) and unfortunately for some time it was somewhat in the shade.
If the good day is seen from the morning, for Abruzzo in the future we hope the road is downhill.
U16 National Trophy girls:
Victory to Angela Di Fabio in 50:18.94.
Second place to Anna Ferrari in 52:59.99.
Third place to Martina Quartararo in 53:17.60.
5.000m track walk U16 boys
Also the boys race ia divided into two timed sessions.
Winner of first session is Claudio De Santis in 24:33.30, followed by Pietro Notaristefano in 25:07.34 and by Enrico Disarò in 25:21.58.
The second timed session is a show race, throbbing up to the last meter.
They start at a pace of 4:35/km and goes to lead Gabriele Gamba (coached by Andrea Previtali) who has the best time of accreditation and is the favorite of the race; after a couple of laps immediately after the first 1,000 is overtaken by Daniele Breda who takes a few meters of advantage, but whose walk is not accepted by the jury and finish (at 2km) in the Pit Lane Area for 1 minute.
At this point it seems to be an easy victory for Gabriele Gamba who already has a few meters opf advantage over the athlete of Monfalcone, Emiliano Brigante and the athlete of Abruzzo Jacopo Capodifoglio.
At six laps to go Emiliano Brigante, who has reached Gabriele Gamba, goes to lead and Gamba loses a few meters. Re-emerged from surprise (remember that Brigante had a personal best of 23:49.82 and was considered no more than an outsider) Gabriele Gamba soon recovered the disadvantag and at 4 laps to go he goes to lead. At this point under a few feet of disadvantage is Emiliano Brigante, who, however, today he wouldn't miss the race. In one lap he recovers the disadvantage and at two laps to the arrival the are side by side and with a forced changeof pace goes in front of the race.
The advantage increases, but stabilizes around ten meters, complicating even as a consequense of lapping.
Less than 150 meters from the arrival Gabriele Gamba produces in his maximum effort and in forty meters he recovered the disadvantage and joined Brigante, who most likely thought the race was already over.
The athlete of Monfalcone sees him coming down right in front of the DQ board, and reacts.
For thirty feet we assist to a beautiful shoulder-to-soulder, none of them wants to give up, but both are within the rules.
Emiliano Brigante still produces his last forces fishing in the bottom of the barrel, and forces Gamba to surrender. For Brigante who is trained by Sergio Tunut and discovered race walk a few years ago the new personal best (22:32.03) and for Gamba 22:36.81 (also for him is the new personal best).
Third place to Jacopo Capodifoglio in 23:11.89, fourth Sergio Palumbo in 23:45.13 and fifth Daniele Breda in 23:47.57 despite the stop in the Pit Lane Area.
To end, to give a fair value to these two results today we present the Italian U16 boys all time list updated at the top 11 positions, beginning with a well-known name (Michele Didoni, who won the World Championships in Goteborg 1995) and terminates with an equally well-known one (Giovanni De Benedictis, who was bronze at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and silver at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart).
| Rank | Performance | Athlete | YoB | Venue | Date |
| | | | | | |
| 1. | 21:57.8 | Didoni Michele | 74 | Nova Milanese | 13.05.1989 |
| 2. | 22:11.36 | Finocchietti Davide | 01 | Grosseto | 24.09.2016 |
| 3. | 22:14.20 | Catania Sebastiano | 75 | Rimini | 30.09.1990 |
| 4. | 22:25.2 | Paternicò Gianfranco | 71 | Padova | 21.06.1986 |
| 5. | 22:25.94 | Vivian Luigi | 74 | Caorle | 06.10.1989 |
| 6. | 22:27.8 | Manfredini Andrea | 78 | Castelnuovo Garfagnana | 07.07.1993 |
| 7. | 22:30.0 | Rosignoli Massimiliano | 66 | Roma | 10.10.1981 |
| 8. | 22.32.03 | Brigante Emiliano | 03 | Cles | 07.10.2017 |
| 9. | 22:36.81 | Gamba Gabriele | 02 | Cles | 07.10.2017 |
| 10. | 22:44.2 | Silvestri Daniele | 78 | Montecatini | 09.10.1993 |
| 11. | 22:45.8 | De Benedictis Giovanni | 68 | Pescara | 03.09.1983 |
U16 National Trophy boys:
Victory to Jacopo Capodifoglio in 1:17:20.56
Second place to Fernando Arcangeli in 1:19:39.78.
Third place to Rocco Luigi Ciarfaglia in 1:20:47.23.
The start of U16 girls