Important Notice

Etna Marathon 2026: The twentieth edition of the race will be postponed to September

The Etna Marathon, now in its twentieth edition, is unfortunately forced to announce the postponement of the race from June to September 2026 due to bureaucratic reasons: the definitive date will be communicated within the next week.

Aware of the enormous inconvenience this news will cause to our many bikers, the Etna Marathon board wishes to clarify what has been communicated: the reasons behind this difficult decision are bureaucratic in nature, related to the failure to obtain authorizations from the Etna Park Authority to hold the race. “We cannot organize an event that has now reached its twentieth edition in a haphazard way, which is why we are giving ourselves another three months, hoping to receive positive news from the Etna Park Authority as soon as possible,” states Maurizio Scalia, president of the Etna Marathon Committee and president of the Mongibello Mtb Team, the sports association that for twenty years has been managing and promoting this historic mountain bike event on the slopes of Etna.

The organizational machine moves well in advance to obtain all the necessary authorizations for the race in time: from January 27th, the organization formally submitted an authorization request to the Etna Park, integrating all the necessary documentation, up to the submission, on March 8th, of an environmental screening (VIncA), drafted by a specialized technician and paid for at the organization’s expense, following another one previously submitted in February. Having completed all the required procedures necessary for the authorization process and fulfilled every required formality, the process has however stalled: the Park’s Scientific Technical Committee, the body responsible for issuing the final opinion, is currently unable to convene due to internal reasons within the authority. Unfortunately, without this authorization from the Park, it is consequently impossible to request the other authorizations from the other bodies, and this causes a serious delay across the entire organizational machine. Despite numerous official requests via certified email (PEC), the timeframes required for organizing the event have now been exceeded: for this reason, the decision to postpone the race to September 2026. “In the coming days we will provide details on the various side events and the new schedule, and we apologize to the many bikers who have already registered, particularly those coming from outside the region or from abroad,” comments Scalia. “The Etna Marathon is and will remain a historical and cultural heritage of the town of Milo and of Etna’s natural and scenic landscape, and for this reason we thank the municipal administration, which has always stood by our side with passion and has always supported us, despite many challenges, backing us throughout this twenty-year journey. We are certain it will continue to do so in the future, because we want to keep the tradition of mountain biking on the slopes of our volcano alive,” adds President Scalia.

All those who have already registered and are based outside the Sicily region may contact the organization to find together the best solution to their understandable and significant inconvenience.

Further news coming soon