Magri the master in Ta' Qali race

Around 120 runners recently turned up for the 18th Mdina Glass Ladies Running Club 10K race.

There was a slight change in route over the last two kilometres due to ongoing building works at Ta' Qali but this did not affect the runners who had a few more bends to negotiate.

Kevin Zammit, who was running out of competition, set the early pace.

However, Brian Magri and Haitem Ksheim seemed bent on running their own race and allowed Zammit to open a gap of over 100m by the halfway mark.

As the runners turned uphill into the wind, Magri's stamina began to show as he steadily whittled away the gap with Zammit, leaving Ksheim in his wake.

In turn, Jonathan Balzan, winner of the 2006 race, slowly began to get Ksheim in his sights but there was no catching Magri who soon overhauled Zammit. He was the master in every sense of the word and by the final kilometre had built up a good enough lead to keep fast-finishing Ksheim at bay and win in 32:57.

Ksheim held off Balzan for second place, clocking 33:04 to Balzan's 33:07. Drew Lang was the official fourth-placed athlete.

In the women's race, evergreen Carol Walsh led from start to finish, clocking 38:39 and placing 13th overall.

Established marathon runner Carmen Hili was second in 40:12, ahead of Josann Attard (40:38) and Francesca Arrigo (40:48). Both the latter-mentioned athletes were surprisingly close to Hili and their performances in this race augur for close contests in the near future.