Kenyan triumph as 'wrong directions' foil Marchane

It was a day of many positives for the BMW Malta Marathon and Half Marathon. The ever growing number of athletes - there were in total 784 - confirm these races as the biggest sporting events on the islands in terms of participation while the day's good weather make them the perfect advert for Malta as a sports tourism destination.

Despite the windy conditions, 11 athletes ran the full marathon in less than three hours, confirming that this is one of the fastest routes around. Kenyan Joshua Kipchumba took the day's honours, finishing the marathon in 2 hours 21 minutes.

For all the athletes taking part, the biggest plus of this year's experience was the improved traffic control along the route. As far as the vast majority was concerned, such factor made the experience all the more enjoyable.

Inevitably where such numbers are concerned, you will always come across the odd disgruntled athlete. Abdel Kebir Marchane's disappointment, however, was more than justified.

The Sicily-based Moroccan athlete had arrived in Malta looking to not only gain his fifth victory but also to improve on last year's record of 2.19.07. And it was all going to plan until a hapless official gave him the wrong directions.

"It is a huge disappointment," he said. "I ran for about three kilometres before someone pointed out to me that I was going the wrong way. I could have turned back but that would have meant running closer to 50km rather than 42! So I decided to quit.

"It was heartbreaking. I love running here and wanted to break my own record. Given the weather and how I was going, I feel that I could have set a new marathon best."

Instead, Marchane waited with the rest of the crowd for the first athlete in and cheered sportingly as Kipchumba crossed the finish line in 2 hours 21 minutes flat.

It was a good performance by the Kenyan and it is indeed a pity that we were deprived from seeing him run head to head with Marchane till the end.

The exertion of running 42km caught up with him at the end and he could barely manage to talk. He did, however, declare that the route can be covered in a faster time.

"My personal best is 2.16 so I think that I can do better than today's time. Running on my own didn't affect me but the wind made it very difficult," the winner remarked.

It took some time for the second athlete to come in but when he did, the waiting crowd reserved quite a cheer for it was a Maltese, Jonathan Balzan of St Patrick's AC, who grabbed the runner-up spot.

Up to this year's edition, Balzan had been a half marathon specialist but injuries over the past couple of months had hindered his preparation so much that he decided to run in the full marathon. But if this is how he runs when he is injured, we'll be in for some exceptional results when he is fully fit.

"I honestly didn't expect this. I've had a crash course in how to run a full marathon," Balzan explained.

"Other than that, the injuries that I've had these past couple of months had me going from one specialist to another so I would have been happy with a time of 2 hours 40 minutes. To do so well, and be the first Maltese is amazing."

And his time of 2.30.18 was indeed an amazing result, the third best timing ever achieved by a Maltese athlete in the Malta Marathon, bettered only by John Buhagiar's 2.28.10 of 1999 and Joseph Pace's 2.28.27 of 1995.

In light of this, it was only natural to ask Balzan whether he intends to start focusing on such races. "It is too early to decide but it is certainly food for thought."

Particularly if he keeps receiving invitations to compete in marathons abroad, as he did yesterday at the finishing line when the race director of the Palermo Supermarathon offered him the possibility of running as one of the race's invited athletes later this year.

Just as last year, Jimmy Sacco was third although with an improved time of 2.36.26.

"It is a personal best for me," the Mellieha AC athlete confirmed.

"I was disappointed by the attitude of some athletes but otherwise it went fine."

For the Mellieha club it was an exceptional day, as they had five athletes in the top 15. One of them was club president Manfred Borda who expressed his delight with the result.

"We've won the team title making it three honours in one year having already won the same title at the Zurrieq Half Marathon and the Malta International Challenge Marathon," Borda commented.

Carmen Hili was the first woman in, crossing the finishing line in 3.12.05. Having finished second last year, the improved result was a satisfaction of sorts for the St Patrick's athlete.

"It's good to win but I'm not that happy with my time. The wind made it very tough, slowing my progress all the way," Hili said.