Origins of the San Silvestre road race

Running enthusiasts compete in races throughout the year, so why not end the year in the same way? Running on 31 December is a good way to see out the year, amidst the festivities and Christmas excesses, and every day more and more people are choosing to end the year by running despite the lure of Christmas feasts and the cold weather.

At Probelte Pharma we believe that food and sport are the key to good health and we love the idea of combining the two at such an important time of year, whether it’s to make sure we don’t forget our goals in the middle of the festive season or to make a start on our New Year’s resolutions.

But who was Saint Silvester?

Around the year 270 a child was born, whom his parents named Sylvester and who from a very young age began to distinguish himself through his selfless charity, becoming highly regarded in Rome at the time for his humility. So much so that he was later elected as Pope Sylvester I and is remembered for such deeds as declaring Sunday to be the ‘Lord’s Day’ for Catholics to commemorate the Resurrection. He died on 31 December in the year 337. For this reason, they started celebrating the feast in his honour on the last day of each year.

The first race

Several centuries later, in 1923, Cásper Líbero travelled to France where he witnessed a night race on 1 January in which all the runners carried torches. So in 1924, on his return to Sao Paulo, he decided to hold his own version of the night race to bid farewell to the year on 31 December, Saint Sylvester’s Day.

After that first event, more and more participants joined the race, until in 1945, after almost 20 years, the journalist decided to turn it into an international race, inviting athletes from other countries.

Distance

Originally, the race covered a distance of 8 km and it has been changed on many occasions, reaching distances of 6, 5, 7, and 12 km. Finally, each city now chooses its distance based on the available route and its difficulty, the most common distance being 10 km.

Race in Spain

Nowadays there are an impressive two hundred different San Silvestre races across the country, but the first Spanish San Silvestre race was held in the Vallecas district (Madrid) in 1964. Although the first event was called the Gran Premio de Vallecas, since the second year it has been called the San Silvestre Vallecana and has become a top race and Christmas tradition, with as many as 40,000 participants signing up to take part.

Although it was originally intended for professional athletes, today there are two categories to choose from: the San Silvestre Popular (open to anyone over 16 years of age), and the San Silvestre Internacional (for a maximum of 500 athletes with personal bests of less than 38‘ for men and 45’ for women).

Race in the rest of the world

In addition to the Corrida de Sao Silvestre (Sao Paulo) and San Silvestre Vallecana (Madrid), there are many other memorable races to be enjoyed on this day around the world:

• In London, people have been running in the ‘Brita Resolution Run’ on 31 December for over 25 years.
• In Germany, the Berliner Silvesterlauf, a 6.3 and 9.9 km race through the forest in Berlin.
• In Italy, thousands of Italian runners take part in the Rome 10K, a race that passes by the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Coliseum, Circo Massimo, Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Venezia.

As you can see, it is an excellent way to see out 2017, although at Probelte Pharma we recommend that you do sport all year round, with the help of natural sports supplements.

Remember, one of our most outstanding products is Keriba Sport, a natural food supplement based on POMANOX (extract of the whole fresh fruit of the pomegranate, Punica granatum L.), magnesium and vitamin B6, which delays the onset of fatigue and exhaustion, reducing muscle damage and inflammation after physical exercise.

There’s no excuse for not taking care of yourself at Christmas too!