The organisers of the 2010 Malta Marathon have every reason to celebrate their landmark 25th edition as yesterday it was confirmed that this year's races had attracted a record entry.
Joe Micallef, the chairman of the Malta Marathon Organising Committee, told reporters at the Muscat Motors showroom that 1,425 applications have been accepted for the races of February 28.
This marks a 40 per cent increase on the 2009 starting list, he said, adding that the number of entries could reach higher figures despite a deadline imposed a few weeks ago.
"We are delighted with the response from both Maltese and foreign runners," Micallef said.
"These last 12 months we worked hard and held meetings with various entities to try and increase the number of participants. However, we never thought that we could reach such record numbers. The good thing is that these figures could soar further as at present we are considering more requests from abroad and we are doing our best to accommodate them."
Micallef said that the boom was down to an increase in both local and foreign entries.
"This year there will be 700 overseas athletes as opposed to the 547 of 2009 while the number of Maltese runners has now reached 725. Last year, the local entry was 490," Micallef, himself a former marathon runner, remarked.
"We have 300 Britons coming up and around 200 from Germany. There will be 35 Japanese on the starting line and 33 others from Italy. These are signs of encouragement for us and we are already thinking about next year. Along with the Malta Tourism Authority we have to try and attract more foreigners, possibly from countries not represented in this race."
Jonathan Balzan, the 2009 Half Marathon winner, and the evergreen Carol Walsh are both expected to participate this year with the former planning to run the full marathon and Walsh bidding to add to her record number of 14 victories in the half.
Veteran runners Charles Darmanin, Charles Herd and Briton Paul Gardner are set to extend their enviable record of participation in every edition of the Malta marathon and this year they will be flanked by Godwin Cutajar and Mario Hammet who also took part in the inaugural Malta Marathon 25 years ago.
The organisers also confirmed that Peter Borg Costanzi, Nicky Briffa, Paul Grima, Pawlu Brincat, Konrad Ciappara, Charles Mallia, Noel Spiteri and Mark Abela, who all ran the 1986 marathon, this time will be figuring in the half marathon.
These 'pioneers' will be wearing the same running numbers they had in 1986.
Micallef said the organising committee have invited Dutch runner Neals Strik, who has a personal best of 2.26, to take part in the marathon and they are also in talks with four African runners who reside in Italy, three male and a female, to race in Malta on Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, the walkathon novelty has proved to be a success with around 200 registering for the 21km challenge that follows the same half-marathon route.
For the third year running, chip timing will again be used to record the times and positions of all runners. The electronic device will be attached to the number on runners' vests.
The registration of locally-based runners will be held on Saturday at the Urban Jungle outlet in Sliema, between 11.30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Overseas runners will collect their numbers today week, between 7 and 9 p.m., and February 27, between 6 and 9 p.m., also from the Urban Jungle store.