The São Silvestre Race reached one hundred editions on Wednesday morning (31). The “pedestrian race” conceived by journalist Cásper Líbero, held for the first time on December 31, 1925, completed a century with celebrations in the streets of São Paulo and victories by Sisilia Ginoka Panga, from Tanzania, and Muse Gizachew, from Ethiopia.
The commemorative contest had a record number of participants, 55 thousand. There was a popular celebration, with athletes in costume, displaying playful and political-social messages. And there was dominance by African competitors, as has been quite common over the last few decades.
The women’s start took place at 7:40 am, with the pace affected by the high temperature recorded in the capital of São Paulo. Sisilia knew how to deal with the situation better and crossed the finish line first, after 51min07, followed by Kenyan Cynthia Chemweno, in 52min30. The best Brazilian was Núbia de Oliveira Silva, third place, with 52min42.
No Brazilian athlete has won since Lucélia Peres’ triumph in 2006. And no Brazilian man has won since 2010, with Marilson Gomes dos Santos’ trifecta.
The elite men’s peloton set off at 8:05 am. And the dispute was only defined in the final meters, when Gizachew overtook Kenyan Jonathan Kipcoech.
Behind them came a lot of people. With a significant increase compared to the 37,500 runners from the previous year, the usual congestion at the start became even heavier. To increase the mobility of the amateurs, a “wave” starting format was adopted, with them being released little by little.
The initial limitation of participants was 50 thousand, but the organization reported that there was a peak of 150 thousand simultaneous accesses on the registration platform, which crashed. Given the problems and complaints, 5,000 extra vacancies were opened, but many were left out.
It was important for those involved in the world of street racing to be at the centenary edition of what has become the largest in Latin America. A dispute initially at night and limited to Brazilians, which later (1945) became open to non-Brazilians. And, much later (1989), daytime.
The most famous participant was Emil Zátopek, from Czechoslovakia, who arrived in São Paulo in 1953, already known as the “Human Locomotive”. Owner of three gold medals (5,000 m, 10,000 m and marathon) at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, he triumphed easily in the capital of São Paulo.
The women’s race only began in 1975, with Portuguese Rosa Mota reigning from 1981 to 1986. In the men’s race, Kenyan Paul Tergat won five times from 1995 to 2000, only losing in 1997 to Brazilian Émerson Iser Bem.
