Positive results despite bad weather

If opening a group of 17 young athletes to new experiences was the aim behind Malta Athletics's recent trip to England, then it can be taken that the objective has been achieved. Perhaps, it wasn't the venture that had been planned but a valuable one nevertheless.

For, once they get over the obvious disappointment of having most of the anticipated competitions cancelled due to bad weather, there will follow the realisation of how lucky they are.

All too often the focus is on what renders such power houses of world sport better than Malta without stopping to consider the benefits of living and training on our island.

Getting to the track and not finding it covered with snow is one of them.

That was the sight that on April 6 greeted the young Maltese athletes and those hailing from a number of countries who had made the trip to take part in the annual Young Athletes Meeting at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

All was not lost, however, as the athletes and team official present got together to organise a number of events in an indoor facility built alongside the track.

At least, there were a lucky few who had managed to take part in the Havering and Mayesbrook AC warm-up meeting a day earlier and they figured quite well.

Record jump

The most impressive performance came from Stephanie Alden who beat older athletes to win the U-20 triple jump with an 11.09m effort to set a new national record in the process.

Nadine Aquilina, 13, was head and shoulders above the rest of the competition when a 9.19m shot won her the U-15 category by over a metre, a result made all the more impressive by the fact that she had to compete with a 3.25kg shot. In Malta she regularly uses the 3kg apparel.

A 12.51m triple jump was enough for Andrew Cassar Torregiani to edge out Gabriel Makinwa and win the U-17 event. Maria Sciberras placed third in the 80m hurdles with a time of 12.7s and Chloe Gambin was fourth in the high jump when she went over 1.40m.