If there is one constant in Maltese long distance running it is that Carol Walsh will never cease to amaze. That the veteran athlete remains the top female runner is beyond doubt, yet her achievements impress nevertheless.
A week after she took part and, naturally, won the Malta International Malta Challenge Marathon she was back in the starting line at Ta' Qali for the third race in the MAAA Road Running League. Not only that but she was strong enough to win in 37:18, over a minute clear ahead of the next female athlete in.
That runner was Giselle Camilleri who in Walsh's absence had won the second leg held at Il-Maqluba. At Ta' Qali, Camilleri ran home in 38:20 ahead of St Patrick's AC team-mate Angela Sammut (38:36).
A similar trend seems to be emerging in the men's series where James Douglas looks to be in unstoppable form.
At Ta' Qali, the Birkirkara St Joseph man once again registered another easy win. As has become his trademark, he immediately raced into the lead and kept that placing till the end while ensuring a fast timing of 32:28.
Douglas's dominance has forced attention to turn to second place. Ta' Qali was no different with five runners finishing within a mere 12 seconds from each other.
Initially, it was Charles Cilia (Mellieha AC) and Gerald Grech (AS Libertas) who tried to keep the pace behind Douglas with Robert Attard (Mellieha AC) behind.
By the sixth kilometre, Pembroke Athleta's Mario Pisani also forced his way into the picture running into fourth place.
They continued this way up till the eighth kilometre, by which time John Buhagiar (Birkirkara St Joseph) had also caught up. At this point, Attard made a break going into second place.
It looked as if the race was to finish that way but with the finishing line a kilometre away, Buhagiar and Pisani once again made a move going into second and third respectively.
But Attard wasn't finished yet. In an exciting sprint finish he once again managed to overtake Pisani and almost caught up with Buhagiar, missing out on second place by just a fraction. Indeed, the registered time of both athletes was of 33:23.
Junior categories
Christian Chetcuti (Allcomers Aloysians) won the 2.3km race followed by Andrea Caruana (Savio AC) and Andrea Mizzi (De La Salle). Sasha Cilia (Starmax AC) reversed the result of the second day when she beat Amy Abdilla (Athleta Pembroke) with Nadia Tabone (Starmax AC) again third.
In the slightly longer 3.5km, Christian Vassallo (SPMC) was first ahead of Savio AC's Luca Cacciatolo and San Andrea's Alan Borg Olivier. Jana Pace Cocks (Athleta Pembroke) lost out to Denise Law (Pembroke Athleta) with Marija Sciberras (AS Libertas) third.
In the Intermediate (5km), Gordon Lungaro, of Athleta Pembroke, won in 18.07 minutes. He was followed by Justin Farrugia (Pembroke Athleta) and Daniel Pace (Allcomers Aloysians).
Among the girls, Monalisa Camilleri, of AS Libertas, split Athleta Pembroke duo Roberta Schembri and Tiziana Zerafa who finished first and third respectively.
Stephen Moghrabi, of Allcomers Aloysians, won in 18.13 in the Junior category. Behind him came Matthew Scerri (Savio AC) and Glenn Scerri (Allcomers Aloysians). Lorna Mifsud (Pembroke Athleta) won the girls race ahead of Allcomers duo Maria Felice and Marylin Grech.
Cilia to defend title in Spain
Charles Cilia is off to Spain this weekend to defend the title he won last year at the Calvia International Marathon, Mallorca.
A repeat of that success will be difficult, but Cilia has been training hard with the target of improving on his personal best over the distance of 2.27:47.