This year, São Silvestre do Porto was raced online

This year, the São Silvestre race of Porto, scheduled for 26 and 27 December, was raced online, on a virtual environment, for the first time ever. Participants could choose between the 10km race or the 5km walk, always in compliance with the safety measures issued by the health authorities, in each part of the Globe, namely physical distancing.

The Half Marathon and the Marathon of Porto also took to a virtual format this 2020, owing to the pandemic.

The São Silvestre do Porto joined over four thousand participants from 18 nationalities, and raised 7.230 euros for the Goodwill Legion. The main goals of the race were to promote a healthy lifestyle, crucial in these unprecedented times, and to raise funds for the least fortunate ones.

For each application, the organisation presented the “Legião da Boa Vontade” with one euro. In addition, each participant could purchase a basket of food as an extra to their participation in the race. In total, participants bought 264 baskets, making a total donation of 7.230 euros.

Lidl, the sponsor of the race, will double the donation to the ‘Legião da Boa Vontade’, upon proof of race results by the first 2500 race participants that register their race results. Thus, the first 2.500 participation worth double, that is 2€ for the Legion of Goodwill. This means that the donation can amount to another 2.500€, plus the 7.230€ euros already raised.

To mark the occasion, Runporto, the organizer entity of the race, was live on social media, last Sunday. The session was also attended by the councillor for Youth and Sports of Porto City Hall, Catarina Araújo, as well as the director of the event, Jorge Teixeira, the regional director general of Lidl, Hélder Rocha, the presenter Jorge Gabriel, the ambassador to the event, Eduarda Pereira, of the ‘Legião da Boa Vontade’, the athletes Mónica Silva and Rui Pedro Silva.

On 29th December, the 10km race had Samuel Barata as the first male runner, with a time of 31m27s. The second position was of Nuno Gamboa, with 34m46s, followed by Paulo Reis, with 34m50s.

As regards women athletes, Mariana Machado was the virtual winner, with the time of 37m25s, followed by Marta Marques, with 40m02s, and Sandra Ferreira, closing podium places with 41m20s.