100 Km del Passatore: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The opening kilometres run through central Florence, past Santissima Annunziata and out over Piazza Edison towards San Domenico. At kilometre 5.3 the climb to Fiesole begins, 2.7 kilometres averaging 6.3 per cent with ramps touching 16. The SP 54 dei Bosconi carries you on to Vetta le Croci at kilometre 16.6, after which the road drops into the Mugello and reaches Borgo San Lorenzo at kilometre 32, back down at just under 190 metres.

The real climb of the day starts there. Some 16 kilometres of the SR 302 Faentina lift the course to the Passo della Colla di Casaglia at 913 metres, with five steeper ramps between kilometre 36 and 46, the last of them in double digits. The Gran Premio della Montagna and an aid station wait at the top, and at Casaglia, kilometre 53, you can pick up a clothing bag handed in before the start. What follows is a little over 50 kilometres of net descent through Marradi and Brisighella and out into the Romagna plain.

The route is asphalt from end to end, on state and provincial roads through the Lamone valley, whose villages stay awake deep into the night and staff the 22 aid stations. The organiser reckons on 8 to 10 degrees and wind at the pass, against roughly 25 degrees in Florence at the start and a little over 23 again in Faenza around nine in the evening. The finish is Piazza del Popolo, where every finisher is handed three bottles of Romagna wine.

Pacing Strategy

A three o'clock start lands you in the hottest hour of the Florentine day, and the first 18 kilometres climb almost continuously by around 450 metres. That is the first trap: the ramps up to Fiesole are short enough to run hard and expensive enough that you will remember them for another 80 kilometres. Aim to reach Borgo San Lorenzo at kilometre 32 comfortably inside its 6h15 gate without having worked for it.

The race is decided on the climb to the Colla. It starts after four to six hours on your feet, runs for 16 kilometres and turns double-digit steep near the top, while the temperature falls from around 15 degrees in the valley to 8 or 10 at the pass. Walking the steep ramps briskly rather than running them costs a few minutes and saves your quads.

The real trap comes afterwards. More than 50 kilometres of net descent sounds like recovery, but it is the longest single load of the day and it happens in the dark. The drop to Marradi invites a pace that eats your legs by Brisighella at kilometre 88, and the flat closing kilometres out on the plain offer nowhere to hide. Run the descent deliberately and with a short stride.

Training plan for 100 Km del Passatore: 12-week build

For an age-group runner the effort typically lasts between eight and fourteen hours, against a 20-hour limit. In character it is one long, even aerobic effort with exactly one hard interruption, the climb to the Colla. Everything else is decided not by intensity but by your ability to hold a quiet pace for hours on end.

The race-deciding stretch is the block between kilometre 36 and 48, where roughly 700 metres of climbing arrive with a marathon already in your legs. Train long runs with the climbing loaded into the final third rather than the start, and practise brisk uphill walking as a skill in its own right.

The descent matters at least as much. More than 1,700 metres of drop on asphalt, spread over 50-plus kilometres, load the quads eccentrically far harder than the climb does. Downhill running under fatigue therefore belongs in the plan on a regular basis, along with strength work for quads and calves.

On conditions, it is the extremes that need preparing for. The course starts at around 25 degrees in Florence, cools to 8 or 10 degrees and wind at the pass, and warms up again in Faenza. Practise handling layers and a waterproof shell on the move, build the Casaglia clothing change into your plan, and use night runs to get used to a headtorch and to running without a horizon. Aid stations come every five kilometres, which is worth using in training to rehearse an intake rate you can sustain for many hours.