After a short period of inactivity, long distance runner Alfred Debono came back with a bang by participating in two prestigious marathons.

In September, the Maltese veteran ran the Berlin Marathon and that was followed by the race in Amsterdam, less than three weeks later. On both occasions, Debono, 65, came out with flying colours and finished among the leaders in his age category.

The Żurrieq Wolves AC runner, coached by Ivan Roznov, started his road-running career 19 years ago with his first official race being the Mdina Glass 10km in 1994.

To-date he has accumulated 26 marathons and 38 half marathons.

Debono can boast he has achieved most of his goals but he still dreams of accomplising one last feat – participation in all of the world’s top 10 marathons.

So far, he has already taken part in nine – Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Amsterdam.

The missing link is the Honolulu Marathon and his preparations for that particular race are already in full swing, hoping he will complete the remarkable top 10 collection this season.

Medcoms, Health Aid and GasanMamo contribute in part to Debono’s expenses.