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Mar 21, 2027
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The Stramilano Half Marathon, often called the Milan Half Marathon, is the competitive half marathon of the Stramilano running event and is usually held on a Sunday in March. It starts and finishes in Piazza Castello, in front of the Sforza Castle, at 8:30 am, with a second wave a few minutes later. The 10 km and 5 km Stramilano runs for all ages start from Piazza Duomo on the same morning. The half marathon is an out-and-back course over the avenues and bastions that circle central Milan. It heads out past Porta Nuova, Porta Venezia, Piazza Cinque Giornate and Piazzale Medaglie d'Oro, continues through Piazza XXIV Maggio and Piazza della Conciliazione to a turning point at Piazza Buonarroti, and then returns along largely the same streets. The time limit is 3 hours 30 minutes, with gates at 10 km (1 hour 30) and 15 km (2 hours 15). The Stramilano event was conceived in 1972 as a night-time mass run; the half marathon for elite athletes was added in 1976, when Victor Mora of Colombia won. The organisers call it the fastest half marathon in Italy, and the men's course record stands at 59:12. In 2026 the race was moved to 3 May to avoid a clash with the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, and it returns to March in 2027.
Typical climate for the race month — an estimate, not a forecast or a race-day record
March in Milan is mild but cool at the 8:30 start: averages are about 15°C for the daytime high and 4°C for the overnight low, with rain on roughly five days of the month.
The Race
Milan
The first Stramilano was held on the evening of 14 March 1972, when around 3,500 registered entrants plus some 1,500 unregistered runners set off from Viale Suzzani on a 24.7 km loop of the outer ring road. A race for elite athletes over the half marathon distance was added in 1976 and won by Victor Mora of Colombia in 1:02:28.
From 1990 to 1993 Moses Tanui of Kenya dominated the Stramilano, lowering the course record to 1:00:51 in 1991 and to 59:47 in 1993. According to the organisers, it was the first time in athletics history that a half marathon was run in under one hour.
James Mwanji Wangari's 59:12 from 2016 is listed by the organisers as the Stramilano record, and it was still unbeaten after the 2023 and 2026 editions. The women's record is 1:07:28, set in 2023 by Gladys Cherop Longari, with Aberash Schilima Kebeda only thousandths of a second behind.
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00:59:12
James Mwanji Wangari (2016)
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