Pembroke Athleta's road races on April 1

The athletic section within Pembroke Athleta are busy preparing for the organisation of its annual road races, now in their 13th edition.

April 1 is the date chosen by the organisers to hold this year's races which were launched during an activity at the Westin Dragonara Resort on Wednesday.

The family event is to commence at 8.30 a.m. along with the main 10 km race, sponsored by Kyocera Mita.

Applications received so far, with two weeks to go, are as encouraging as last year when total participation exceeded 160 entries.

Carol Walsh, undoubtedly the queen of Maltese athletics, will start as favourite in the women's race. James Douglas, who is having an outstanding season, will want to add this race to his string of successes, especially in view of the fact that the Pembroke race was his first taste of long-distance running in Malta.

Pembroke Athleta will also organise a race over five kilometres. This event, sponsored by Fexco Western Union, is intended for athletes specialising in shorter distances, newcomers to long-distance running and athletes in the junior category (U-20).

Except for this race, the routes will be identical to those of last year. The route of the 5K has been modified so that the runners will pass through the same side of the finish gantry.

The traditional Fun Run, supported by Safari Fruit Juices, will set off at 10 a.m. The fun run is a series of 1.3 km races that attract well over 1,000 participants.

The last events of the morning, over a three kilometre route, will be for the cadets, namely children born in 1994 and 1995 (sponsored by Sedqa), and the Nike 3km event for youths born in 1992 and 1993.

With the exception of the Fun Run, there will be trophies for the first three finishers in the 5km race, the first four in the 3km event and the first five in the 10km race.

In all the other competitive races, each age category winner will also receive a trophy. The Pembroke Local Council will be presenting a shield to the school with the highest entry of participants, to be kept for a year, while the Swieqi Local Council will be awarding a shield to the first male and first female from the locality.

Applications for the races may be obtained from the Pembroke clubhouse or by downloading one from the website, athletapembrokeac.com