An intense weekend in Puglia (ITA).
It all started yesterday in the late afternoon when the National Meeting of the City of Molfetta inaugurated the brand new stadium dedicated to Mario Saverio Cozzoli.
A stadium expected for about forty years in the city of Puglia in the province of Bari, which can be considered one of the tanks of race walking in that region, in which the Olimpia Molfetta company stands out as the organizer of many Italian championships of the 20km walk.
The new facility, strongly desired by the president of the Regional Committee of Fidal of Puglia, Giacomo Leone, who we remember was the last Italian athlete to win the New York Marathon in 1996, looks like a jewel with 8 lanes, 4 facilities for the jumps in extension, 2 external heating tracks of about 80m, a large giant screen and a covered grandstand with a thousand seats hosted on the opening day in the National Meeting of the City of Molfetta.
But as if that were not enough, today and tomorrow it will host the 9th Meeting City of Molfetta - Exprivia Trophy, within which two track walks events over a distance of 5,000m are included.
And we come to the two events.
5.000m track walk men
Pietro Pio Notaristefano (year 2003) U18 of Atletica Don Milani risked a lot, but managed to win, thanks to Rule 54.7.3 (Penality Zone).
The young athlete had left with the intention of lowering his personal best of 21:09.9h obtained in Acquaviva delle Fonti (ITA) on 18.1.2019, but ran into a technically negative day for him.
The jury stopped him for three "loss of contact" red cards and resumed racing after the 30" stop in the penalty area.
His main opponent, Leonardo Serra (ITA), was too far away to reach him despite the stop.
Victory then for Pietro Pio Notaristefano (ITA) in 21:59.44
Second place to Leonardo Serra (ITA) in 22:02.45
Third place to Leonardo Annoscia (ITA) in 23:37.59
The outcome of this competition leaves us perplexed for a moment.
Certainly not for the stop in the penalty zone of an athlete, which has now become normal and commonly accepted, but for the fact that after the stop the same athlete managed to win the race. We have no statistics on this, but we believe it is one of the first times.
Our perplexities derive from the fact that in 2013 when the penalty rule was introduced in an experimental form for the U16s (and we were among the main supporters) the main objective that was set with its introduction was that of the training of the young athlete. The message they wanted to give was the following: "We give you a second chance, but you don't have to get benefits, such as medals and/or wins".
We wonder in particular if this educational value, which those who at the time wanted to introduce into the rule, rightly indicated as a pillar to be preserved, or if over time it was only possible to reduce the number of disqualifications by increasing the reductions necessary for this to happen by one card.
A general reflection, also on the part of the coaches of young athletes, is necessary.
Race walking already suffers enough in terms of visibility and we would not like to have returned to the starting point.
5.000m track walk women
A solitary walk at the head of the race and a victory with the season best that of Ida Mastrangelo (ITA) also of Atletica Don Milani who finished in 24:56.94.
Second place to Maria Teresa Vulpis (ITA) in 26:42.58
Third place to Veronica Vinci (ITA) in 27:24.50