Front-runners confirm intentions as Grech makes it two out of two
Evergreen Carol Galea first in women's race
An ideal collaboration between the Malta Amateur Athletics Association (MAAA), Michele Peresso Ltd as main sponsor, the Zebbug Local Council, the Police Force, the Transport Authority and other philanthropic societies, notably the Scouts Movement, ensured a red-letter day at Zebbug last Sunday for the second leg of the Road Running League.
Hundred and ten athletes turned up for the main 10km event, out of which were 30 ladies.
The flat route chosen, in three loops round the town core, rendered virtually traffic-free with the help of the authorities, resulted in faster times than is usual on this distance.
Consolidating their positions at the top, the first four placings were a carbon copy of those at Ghajn Tuffieha.
Gerald Grech again spearheaded the Libertas challenge, this time finishing in 32 mins 45 seconds.
In second place, Jonathan Balzan, of St Patrick's AC, recorded 33.04 while Mark Herrera, in the Pembroke colours, shaved off the most when he stopped the clock on 33.54 mins.
The Libertas foursome, this round featuring Xandru Grech besides Peter Azzopardi, Kevin Galea and Gerald Grech, improved their combined time by four minutes nine seconds to comfortably lead the team table from Zurrieq Wolves and Mellieha AC.
Meanwhile, among the ladies, Carol Galea improved her time by 35 seconds when she completed the course in 36.43 minutes, ahead of her Pembroke team-mate Lisa Bezzina and third-placed Giselle Camilleri for St Patrick's.
Both Bezzina and Camilleri improved on their first showing by one minute 17 seconds and two minutes 38 seconds respectively.
Zurrieq Wolves head the team event having achieved a considerable improvement on their first outing.
This time round their team was made up of Cecilia Fenech, Marisa Muscat and Doreen and Kathleen Vella, who all managed to finish among the first 11.
In the junior section, the honours once again went to Joelle Cortis, this time running on home ground to finish seventh overall. The first junior male was Matthew Saliba for Savio College.
In the shorter routes, Savio again came up trumps in the Boys' Under-13 when Kursten Gatt took the honours.
Glenn Vella (De La Salle) once more won handsomely the youth section and Allister Bezzina for Allcomers Aloysians clinched the 5km race.
In the mirror events for the girls, Maria Sciberras (Libertas), Maroushka Cutajar and Emma Jo Vassallo (Pembroke) were similarly awarded trophies by the Zebbug mayor Joe Ciantar.
This being Zebbug Day, Mr Ciantar presented another 13 trophies to the winner in each category in the veterans section, besides for the first three male and female athletes in the main 10km event.
The next event in the series will shift once more to the afternoon, when the setting will be the quiet rural area of Tal-Maqluba, Qrendi on Saturday, November 20.