Mifsud, Hili prevail in 5K series opener

Aaron Mifsud and Carmen Hili opened their Birkirkara SJ 5K road race title defence with a win as the first race from this year’s 10th edition of the series was held recently in Mtarfa.

All three races in the 2012 series are being held on the Mtarfa By-pass, under the auspices of the Malta Amateur Athletic Association and sponsored by The Cyclist, of San Ġwann.

The top six in the race all clocked under 17 minutes.

Mifsud opened a wide gap in the first half of the race to win in a time of 16 minutes 9 seconds, a personal best for him on the same route.

Four were battling it out for second place with Simon Spiteri just in front of Steve Chetcuti, Clive Gerada and Bertrand Sant.

Spiteri finished in 16 minutes 29 seconds, ahead of Chetcuti (16:32) and Gerada (16:35).

Hili’s race was a solitary challenge against the clock.

Determined to hold on to the title, she covered the distance in 18 minutes 54 seconds. Second place went to Francesca Arrigo, of the Ladies Running Club. She finished 16 seconds ahead of Marica Micallef (St Patrick’s AC).

The second race from this series will be held on July 24.