After the successful debut in the European Mountain Champion-ships, in Borovets, Bulgaria, in summer, the Malta national mountain running team took on their first ever international uphill and downhill race at the 29th World Championships which were held recently in Kyrnica, Poland.

In the men’s race (13.56km + 838m – 828m, three laps), Charles Cilia was first Maltese runner in ahead of Joe Saliba and Gerald Grech.

Overall, they ran faster than representatives of 10 other countries including those from Hungary, Slovenia, Belgium, Mexico, San Marino and Monaco.

In the women’s team event (9.08km + 561m – 551m, two laps), Giselle Camilleri led Angele Sammut and Carmen Hili at the finish line.

The trio did well and their combined times were faster than the girls from Australia, Belarus and Ukraine.

The trip to eastern Europe was not the only assignment for the Maltese mountain race athletes this autumn as a team of male distance runners, composed of Cilia, Saliba and Grech, have just taken part in the Trofeo Ezio Vanone mountain relay which was held in Morbegno, northern Italy.

The race, now in its 56th edition, is ranked among the most established and better organised mountain races in Italy, presenting a very challenging, technical course for competitors.

Running in difficult weather conditions, participants covered three legs of 7.250kms each, starting with a 435m uphill and a sharp downhill.

The team managed a creditable 44th position out of 142 teams in-cluding 12 from outside Italy.

Cilia ran the third leg and had the best individual performance among the Maltese, placing 75th out of 415 starters.