Giovanni Forciniti, doctor and athlete originally from Longobucco (Cosenza), completed the 54th edition of the New York Marathon, one of the most fascinating and challenging trials on the world calendar. The official time of 3 hours and 44 minutes earned him the finisher medal, 287th place in his age group and 13,185th place overall, as also reported by the US newspaper The New York Times among athletes under five hours.
The race, which starts from Staten Island and crosses all five boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan – up to the finish line in Central Park, was a symbolic “overseas” journey for Forciniti, in which pride, effort and belonging were intertwined.
“Force Italy, I love!”: cheering along the route
“This is the fourteenth marathon I’ve completed,” says Forciniti. “I also ran the Berlin Major, all exciting but not like this one: there were world champions at my side and, seeing the Marathon Cosenza shirt and the banner with the symbol of Italy and the bell tower of Longobucco, the public cheered me on by shouting: ‘Force Italy, I love!’”.
The athlete faced a challenging route, with a continuously moving “human tide” and an altitude profile that was not always easy, managing pace and sensations step by step until the final sprint in Central Park.
Dedication and values
“I dedicate this challenge to the Marathon Cosenza athletic club and to the people of Longobucco in the world, in particular to those who emigrated to New York and gave prestige to our Silane and Mediterranean roots. From our mountains I learned perseverance, from the sea listening to the heart: this is how balance is found, everywhere.”
A doctor by profession, Forciniti is linked to the values of community, freedom and mutual respect. “Only through sacrifice and honesty can one truly live,” he underlines, recalling the ideal of freedom that the Statue symbol of America embodies at the entrance to New York Harbor.
An iron CV
Over 800 kilometers of marathons flow through the doctor’s legs: all the main Italian Gold races – Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, Bologna, Palermo, Padua, Taranto – the Athens classic, the 50 km of Castelvecchio in Bologna and the Berlin Major, where he clocked a brilliant 3:31:05. A constantly growing sporting path, fueled by discipline, passion and belonging.