An Italian grandmother inspired marathon runners to reach the finish line at the Ravenna Marathon. The 84-year-old, Valeriana Corelli gave a heartwarming gesture by giving high five to the runners on reaching the finish line. Her enthusiastic high five encouraged the runners. The video is going viral on Twitter and the runners can be seen smiling as they reach out to acknowledge the highly spirited grandma. Grandmother decided to support competitors in the Ravenna Marathon on November 11 after she saw them passing from her window.
According to reports, she stood there for two hours congratulating the participants with her high fives. Her heartfelt gesture grabs the attention of the president of the Ravenna Runners Club. He went on to reward her with a medal. The video is making rounds on the internet and the whole Twitterati’s came together to for her never-ending enthusiasm and an incredible gesture of the woman.
Just look at all the happy faces ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/C8eQUjA0Yh
— Christian Steiner (@WirImperium) December 13, 2018
i dont do any sports events but i need this lovely grandma https://t.co/RCUJbo4k7S
— D. Crease (@Esiristian) December 13, 2018
This is so cute 😭😍 https://t.co/Kx7BF4l64w
— Rehhh (@Rehmannnnn) December 13, 2018
Look at how those people even come by from the other side of the road… https://t.co/rDyF2Gl4JL
— rhst (@hnmrhst) December 13, 2018
As the runner make their way down the road Marathon Grandma stretches out her right arm to give them a high five. The runners high-five her back and those too far away give her a warm wave. Some. Competitors even cross from the far side of the road to get closer to Marathon Grandma.
When one female runner dodges Granny’s hand and says her that this is a big job she continues smiling as more people come towards her. In total 25 runners get a high five from Mrs. Corelli in the short clip which has been viewed thousands of times on social media.
At that time when she was given a medal in recognition for her inspirational effort, she told the local media that, “I am truly honored to have contributed to making the Ravenna Marathon even more famous.”
Filmer Robert Catalano described the video as 65 seconds of sport, humanity, love, and community.