Scout completes walk around Malta in record time

Matthew Catania, 18, a member of the St Aloysius College Scout Group has completed a walk around the Maltese coastline in a a record time of 15hours and 30mins.

He was the only one to make it out of a group of seven scouts who set out to break the record set in January 1966 by another two members of St Aloysius College Scout Group - Paul Farrugia and Victor Bezzina, also 17, who covered the 60 mile distance in 20 hours and 30 mins.

This year's event, held over the weekend, took the form of a sponsored walk in aid of l-Istrina and followed weeks of training by the scouts to build up their physical strength. At the same time, pledges were being collected from companies and individuals to support this record-breaking challenge.

The challenge started from Qawra Police Station at around 08:30 a.m. and members had to call at every police station along the route to have their log card signed by the police officer on duty. The scouts visited the following police stations along the route: Qawra PS (08:30hrs), St. Paul's Bay PS (08:51hrs), Mellieha PS (09:45hrs), Mgarr PS (11:55hrs), Qrendi PS (14:30hrs), Zurrieq PS (14:50hrs), Birzebbugia PS (16:05hrs), Marsaxlokk PS (16:40hrs), Marsascala PS (17:30hrs), Zabbar PS (18:10hrs), Cospicua PS (18:40hrs), Paola PS (19:00hrs), Valletta PS (20:15hrs), Msida PS (20:50hrs), Sliema PS (21:16hrs) and St. Julians PS (21:30hrs). Support staff took into in turns to accompany Matthew Catania during the last part of the challenge.

This was one of the initiatives organised by the SAC Scout Group during the past months in aid of l-Istrina. Other initiatives were a wine tasting event at the Group's Headquarters, a Halloween party for the cub scouts, sale of hot dogs during weekly meetings and Christmas Cards designed by the young members of the Group. All activities were organised in liaison with the Scout Association of Malta.