Ex-champions for race with record-breaking participation

Former winners will be on the starting line of this year’s record-breaking Land Rover Malta Marathon, Race Director Joe Micallef told reporters during a press briefing in St Julian’s yesterday.

Moroccan Abdelkebir Mar­chane, James Douglas, of Britain, and Jonathan Balzan have all confirmed their participation in this year’s events which have attracted a bumper participation of 2,200 runners, smashing the previous best of 1,425 last year.

Marchane, a four-time winner of the marathon, will make a return but this time he has opted for the half marathon. Among his main rivals will be Douglas, a back-to-back winner of the 21.1km race in 2007 and 2008, and Charles Cilia, the 2010 winner.

Balzan, who won the half marathon in 2009, will be bidding to extend his success to the more demanding 42.2km race and, perhaps, put behind him last year’s upset when the lead car veered off course and foiled his plans.

In the women’s field, Lisa Bezzina, the 2010 half marathon winner, will also defend her title while Joelle Cortis, who placed third in 2008 and 2009, is yet to decide which distance she will tackle on February 27 as she is currently nursing an injury.

“We are so pleased to have so many former champions on the starting line this year,” Micallef said.

“The record entry field on its own will provide a great spectacle for the spectators lining up the route. However, we are also expecting improved timings and a stiff tussle for the titles at stake.”

Micallef said the organisers’ objective was more than fulfilled.

“We had set a target to increase entries by around 15 per cent,” Micallef said.

“However, in the last few days before the close of entries we received a deluge of new applications. The Walkathon was introduced last year and had 200 participants. This year, the number swelled to 600.

“There has also been a rise in half marathon runners, from 900 to 1,200, and the full marathon has gone up from 290 to 380.”

Hugh Mercieca, chief executive officer at Muscat Motors, was obviously delighted that his firm had associated itself with the popular Malta Marathon through carmaker Land Rover.

“This is a great partnership and although the current deal expires in two years’ time we want to start talks to renew this sponsorship for another five years.”

This year, a record number of Maltese will run the marathon – 55 males and nine females. The figures for the other two events show 525 females and 640 males.

Meanwhile, the British contingent for the race has soared to 369, retaining the lead for a second successive year in foreign participation. Those from Germany will number 160 and the country with the next biggest group will be Italy, 71, followed by France, 59, Poland, 40, Spain, 36, Japan, 30, and Sweden, 29.

One interesting participant will be Boguslaw Maminski.

The 55-year-old Pole has a remarkable career in track and field, winning a silver medal at the 3,000m steeplechase in the 1982 European Championships and again placing second in the 1983 World Championships.

The routes are unchanged from last year with the start again located outside Mdina Gate and the finish line at Sliema.

Again, the marathon organisers will be hosting the traditional 2km fun run in Sliema on race day.

The run, co-ordinated by Pembroke Athleta, is open to parents and children and starts at 9 a.m.