“Twenty years you look like few then turn to look at them and you don’t find them anymore …”. The time flies and not only for heroes like Bufalo Bill. Fly for everyone. It passes away so fast that it seems yesterday when the brave in the first edition of Elbaman dived into the water from Marina di Campo which was not yet “full” but a medium on distance 70.3. It was 2004 and it lasted little. Just a year because to write the story you need courage and so the challenge doubled and began everything from the end. A beautiful story that perhaps also goes a little beyond the triathlon. “I would like to thank everyone who believed in us in these twenty years- he explains Marco Scotti, Elbaman’s soul and heart believed that from nothing and with few means, but with passion and ability, the dream of having such a race in Italy could be realized. An event of smiles, effort, happiness and friendship that goes well beyond the competitive value. Each of the athletes who started and has crossed the finish line in these 20 years is and will always be in my heart and in that of my wonderful volunteer staff, without which nothing would have been possible … “.
Valleys to chase twenty years. Twenty years of stories, victories, medals, joys, some inevitable disappointments, some outstanding account that so then one returns (many return) to regulate it. Twenty years of great efforts, of passions that flow underground. Twenty years of satisfaction. Twenty years from pioneers, Italian titles, “space” editions and less lucky and “flooded” editions because it must also sometimes be courageous and capable of taking a step back. It’s not always fine. But Elbaman in these twenty years, likes or not, has written the story. And it is a story of its own, never banal, authentic and perhaps a little rough, countercurrent, that you cannot (or do not want) tattoo but remains. And how it remains, more in the heart and soul than on the skin. It will be the island that is wonderful but does not discount, it will be that for years it has been the first and only the only Italian, it will be that it has an essence of its own thought, written and defense with the passion that can be given to the “creatures”.
Twenty years and it seems yesterday but in reality it is more than ever With an edition that pays homage to the round figure with a record. Never like this year with over 900 members, with 20% of foreign participants from 20 nations, including the United States, Argentina and Australia. It is the highest turnout in history, precisely in the year in which it is celebrated. Once there was only Elbaman, now there are several more things because the times change and the outline matters. So Saturday the Aquathlon of the eagles is staged and for the youngest Elbaman Kids and Sundays the queens races: the Elbaman (3.8 km swimming, 180 km bike, 42.2 km race) and Elbaman73 (1.9 km swimming, 90 km bike, 21.1 km race), both also available in a staffetta formula for those who do not hear it (still) to take the Elba.
Hard the right and maybe a little more, The right technician, as beautiful as he knows only the island of Elba has nothing to envy to anyone. On the contrary. So much so that in 2010 Elbaman was included among the best 10 distance world competitions Iron by the US Triathlete magazine that had explained how from these arts the soul of the triathlon was rediscovered, the slightly more rough and less ruffian one, plus glass card than sequins in short. Fascinating but difficult race. It will be the island that is wonderful but does not discount, it will be that for years it has been the first and only the only Italian, it will be that it has a story of its own thought like a dress that goes down on you and then you struggle to remove it. We dive as always from the “Scoglio” of Marina di Campo, the heart of the hamlet of Swimming and the race that caresses the beach, which passes in the middle of houses, clubs, shops, which a little salt and then flies, which swells you the legs that makes you repent, curse and eventually rejoice. It has been cycling between Marciana and Marciana Marina which is one of the most beautiful and spectacular places where you can pedal between sea and horizons that never end. Two laps usually for the long distance but this year, for safety reasons related to the road surface, the laps will become four on the already known circuit of the Half distance. It is thus awaiting better times (and roads).
Twenty years for a long story of sport. To relive what is perhaps the real Woodstock of the Triathlon where you often meet but even more often you find yourself, where you feel at home and a little in the family. Twenty years to write about it even if that’s not enough because to tell Elbaman above all you have to do it. Only in this way do the emotions of a sport that in these parts returns to the ancient, without the need to exhibit, to demonstrate, to appear, are grasped. Marina di Campo at dawn, a tour of bikes on the coast that opens incredible horizons, a race until night in the streets of a country that lights up to wait who is closing its effort, a pizza in the end even in the small hours because here for one night ovens and kitchens remain lit. For many it is a story of love and passion that has been going on for years. Winds to be precise. When “the country was very young and the bright green of the prairie showed the existence of God in a clear way …”.