Urban Jungle Mdina-Spinola race on December 19

Since time out of mind (well, since roughly 1979 anyway) Malta's traditional pre-Christmas race has been the Mdina-Spinola.

While a whole host of other traditional races have long since ceased to be, the Mdina-Spinola has remained a constant on the winter road racing calendar.

Races that have long since dropped off the calendar include the Balluta five miles, that went up the hill past Halland Hotel; the Xaghra, Gozo 10 miles, that included a mind-sapping hill up out of Marsalforn; and the old Maqluba 10k that entailed two cruel loops up those gruelling hills.

You know, age must soften the memory, because I now find that I look back fondly on those events. I don't recall feeling that way about them at the time.

Anyway, one big advantage of the unbroken line of Mdina-Spinola races stretching back so far is that runners can compare their performances each year with their times in previous years, and thus (each December) gauge their readiness for the following February's Malta Marathon or Half Marathon.

This year's Urban Jungle Mdina-Spinola will be held on Sunday, December 19 and begins sharp at 8 a.m. from Mdina Gate.

In the relaxed spirit of times past, this is a true low-key, minimum-fuss event. There is no website, no need to pre-register: just show up one hour before the start and apply and take part there and then.

Please note that transport from the finish to the start will not be provided by organisers Allcomers Athletic Club and the MMOC. All runners are encouraged to make their own transport arrangements.

This generally means that runners leave their cars (and clothing) at the finish line in Spinola at 6 a.m. and travel up in one car to the start line at Mdina. Larger, more organised, groups sometimes book minibus transport from Spinola.

For those new to this event, a word of caution.

The first three miles are essentially downhill and it is extremely easy for runners with little experience to be sucked into starting at a faster pace than might be wise.

I include myself in this, remembering my wildly optimistic opening three miles in my first attempt at this race way back in 1983. I found myself half-exhausted by the time I got to Attard with over seven miles still to run and wishing I had tucked some bus fare into my shorts. So do be cautious.

There are traditional watershed finishing times in the Mdina-Spinola race; achieving a first time sub-70 minutes can be a big motivating factor for many runners.

Then there's sub-65 minutes and the excellent sub-60 minutes, which even after all these years is still a worthy notch for good endurance runners to have on their CV. The ultimate sub-55 minutes finishing time is only ever achieved by the very best at the height of their power.

All finishers of the Mdina-Spinola will receive a commemorative medal, and there will be Urban Jungle vouchers for the first three males and first three females.