Top honours for Balzan and Cortis

The Ladies Running Club (LRC) have just held the 17th Mdina Glass six-mile race which also incorporated a four-mile walk.

The race commenced at 6 p.m. when the weather conditions were humid but breezy and pleasant enough to allow for some good performances. The established athletes, among the 150 who took part, did not disappoint and produced one of the best races ever in the history of the LRC 6.

In the men's race, a group of seven, composed of Brian Magri, Mario Pisani, Drew Lang, Robert Attard, Jonathan Balzan, Gerald Grech and newcomer Jeroen Brandts, led the way over the first mile, with the lead changing hands several times.

The group was whittled down to five just half-a-mile later with Lang and Attard falling behind. Just before the two-mile mark, Brandts made the first move, building a 10m gap over the other four. But that was the cue for Pisani, Magri and Balzan, who until then had been hanging on at the back of the pack, to pick up the pace and the three quickly overtook Brandts.

Balzan soon began to pull clear and continued to widen the gap over his rivals on the way to winning in a time of 32:22 over the 10km route. Pisani followed, recording a personal best time (32:46) and beating Magri by a mere three seconds.

Meanwhile, Charles Cilia, who had not featured in the leading pack in the race's early stages, had been making inroads on the other runners all the way to the finish. He placed fourth, 13 seconds behind Magri. Grech, Lang, Attard and Brandts followed Cilia in that order.

The women's race saw one of the closest competitions in recent years, with Joelle Cortis coming in at 39:06 followed by Carmen Hili (39:21) who ran the race for the first time in the over-35 category. Experienced athlete Cecilia Fenech (over 45) ran very strongly to clinch third place in 40:47.

The LRC sponsors were Mdina Glass, San Michel, Scotts Supermarkets, Enjoy The Run, Living Well Health Club, Golden Harvest, H and H Fruit Juices, VJ Salomone, McDonald's, Ancams Ltd, Strand Palace Agency, Charles Darmanin and Co Ltd, Rimus Riley, Star Fruit and Maxim.

Birkirkara SJ, St John Ambulance, the Police, the Attard and St Aloysius scouts, marshals and volunteers contributed to the smooth running of the races.