Hugh Jones's record will be under serious threat on Sunday, February 27 when the 20th Malta Marathon will be staged.
The Briton established the best mark for the 42.195km race in Malta way back in 1993.
Since then, the record, 2:19.30, was hardly ever challenged but Abdel Kebir Marchane, three times winner of the Malta Marathon intends to approach that mark or even surpass it this year.
Race Director Joe Micallef yesterday told reporters that Marchane will be back this month after winning the 2001, 2003 and 2004 marathons.
The Moroccan, whose winning time last year was 2:22.21, will be accompanied by a top Italian runner and a pacer who will lead the duo up to the 30-kilometre mark.
Marchane is a strong runner and needs no introduction in the local athletics scene following his exploits in the marathon.
The omens do seem to be on his part, however, as a new route, which had to be laid out due to road works in the various parts of the island where the marathon passes through, looks to be more flat than the one of last year.
"Since we started the marathon this will be the eighth different route we have had to design," Micallef said.
"We thought we would settle for the one of last year but the various road works currently underway forced us to come up with something different.
"This route looks ideal to us but we won't know for sure whether the changes will eventually help the record seekers or not until it's over."
The marathon and half-marathon start and finish points are still the same at Mdina and Sliema respectively. However, the organisers had to do away with the stretch leading from Zebbug to Marsa and introduce an itinerary that goes through Ta' Qali, Mosta, Attard, Mriehel Bypass and down to December 13 Road before the last few kilometres home via Pietà, Msida and Ta' Xbiex.
Participation numbers
Micallef said that participation numbers should more or less be on the same lines as last year when 144 completed the marathon and 538 the half marathon.
The foreign contingent with the best entry is again that of Germany with 140 runners. The Britons are next in line. For the first time, there will also be runners from Slovenia.
One notable name on the entry list so far is that of Paul Pickup. He was the first Malta Marathon winner in 1986.
Carol Galea will also return to the starting line in the half marathon, seeking to make it home first in her category for a remarkable 12th time. Carmen Hili is expected to defend her women's marathon title and Charles Cilia the one for the men's half-marathon.
The Malta Marathon was the brainchild of four long-distance runners, Micallef, John Walsh, Edwin Attard and Mario Chetcuti. All four are still involved in the organisation.
"Time flies but we still remember the first marathon in 1986," Micallef said. "There were only a few tens on the line but today participation involves hundreds of athletes. That has been our aim since the beginning.
"These past couple of years we've been rather static on foreigners but from the local point of view participation has increased dramatically. Last year we had 400 and that figure is likely to increase this time.
"No doubt, we could not have achieved all this alone. For the third time we've secured the main sponsorship of BMW. Other sponsorships come from San Michel, Powerade, Urban Jungle and Air Malta.
"We're also grateful for the assistance from the Police Force, the Armed Forces, the scouts and the government along these years."
Hugh Caruana, BMW representative, said it was his firm's intention to keep the association going with the marathon as they consider the event to rank high in the local calendar.
"This is something already recognised I suppose," Caruana said.
"But, we think that the Malta Marathon and Half Marathon are the top athletics events on our islands. We want to keep the sponsorship going and appreciate the fact that local participation has always been on the increase ever since we agreed on this partnership."
Registration at race headquarters, the Metropole Hotel, will be on Saturday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) for locals, and February 26 (3 to 7 p.m.) for overseas runners.