2,000+ – a tsunami of applications

I was not exaggerating when last week I wrote of a tsunami of applications.

It’s only two years ago that we broke 1,000 total participants and thought that was a great achievement. In one year we increased by 40 per cent to over 1,400 last year and thought that was absolutely incredible.

Although we had an inkling from the number of competitors showing up for the recent M2S and other events that this year we might break the 1,500 barrier, we were blown away when the applications just never stopped coming and we finished with over 2,000 by last Sunday’s closing date.

The numbers break down something like the following; 400 in the full marathon, 1,200 in the half marathon and 500 in the walkathon.

Where are all these people coming from? I have no idea, but I know where they are going to be... on the startline on February 27!

Over 800 runners are foreigners.

It’s a safe bet that the majority of those 800 runners came with a spouse or partner (and stayed a full week half- or full-board) which has to be good news for Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport Clyde Puli, who only recently spoke of the importance of sport tourism as one of the main sources through which the country can generate funds for sport. Taking that further, if 800 applicants are foreign, it has to mean that over 1,200 participants are Maltese; signifying a growing local culture of active lifestyles.

The importance of health and exercise is being understood by people from all walks of life and the Malta Marathon has become their focus; a day in which they can celebrate and validate their decision to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Meanwhile, year after year I recommend the pre-Christmas M2S to all runners so they can test their endurance over a long distance.

At 17.4km it’s a pretty good gauge of your ability to cover the 21.1km of the half marathon. Also, there’s still two months to go till Marathon Day to correct any lack of endurance that M2S shows up.

With the test for endurance taken care of, I always like to recommend the Attard 10km (February 13) as a final test of your speed.

Let’s say you would like to run the half marathon at 8:00 mins/mile. It should be expected then that you can run 10k (less than half the half marathon distance) at a pace somewhat quicker than HM pace.

If your HM target is 8:00m/m, then we would expect to be able to run the Attard 10k at 7:40-7:45m/m, or better. If you find you can only run the Attard 10k at 7:55m/m, then that would urge you to be cautious on HM day.

In that case, be careful in the opening miles of the HM and don’t rocket off completely confident that 8:00m/m is in the bag.

Never forget, the biggest mistake you can make on race day is to start too fast in the opening two miles.

The Attard 10k starts at 9 a.m. from the main square. With the huge interest from walkers, the organisers are offering a Walk 10km which will start at 8.30 a.m.

This is a well-organised event and I recommend it to all those who would like a last-minute test just to see where they are. Running a good 10km only two weeks before Marathon Day should not affect your performance on the big day.

To apply for the Attard 10k, contact Attard Local Council on 21-433979 or 21-411111. Alternately, contact race director, George Farrugia on 7959-3168.

With only five weeks remaining till Marathon Day, be careful out there and enjoy your training.

johnzwalsh@yahoo.com