When the Malta Marathon Organising Committee was set up in 1985 it was composed mainly of athletes and one official.

The MMOC’s goal was to increase the number of those participating in road running.

The truth is that I was pessimistic on being able to increase the numbers by organising a full marathon... after all, in those days the field for a six-mile run would be of about 16 to 20 at most.

Despite this I still went along with the idea together with Edwin Attard, John Walsh, Chris Cassar Torreggiani, Ray Cassar Torregiani, Peter Borg Costanzi, Charles Cioffi and other athletes who also contributed to the cause.

Mario Chetcuti, less known for his athletic capabilities, was also drawn on to the MMOC as he was the only known Maltese who had previously run a marathon (London) and on whose experience we could rely.

To my own surprise 60 locals participated in the 1986 inaugural Malta Marathon along with another 59 foreigners.

All 119 participants were male but on the day a 10-mile run for women was held concurrently and 12 had taken part that year.

In 1987, the 10-mile women’s race was substituted by a half marathon and in 1989 the half marathon was also open to men.

There are still a handful of those 60 Maltese who are still participating in either the full or the half marathon.

The most notable runner, however, is Charles Darmanin who has competed in all of the 29 marathons and has also applied for next month’s race.

Charles Herd and Paul Gardner have run the first 25 marathons and the following four half marathons. They have both applied for their fifth Malta Half Marathon. Gardner lives in the UK.

Darmanin will be eligible to be included in the World Book of Records once he finishes the 30th Malta Marathon. He will equal the current world record of a person having run the same marathon on 30 consecutive years.

The MMOC is committed to inviting the officials of the World Book of Records in 2016 to ratify Darmanin’s 31st consecutive Malta Marathon should he become the sole record holder as the one with the current mark has stopped running.

The first two Malta Marathons, and the only two that I have run, started in Santa Luċija and ended in Sliema, pretty close to where the marathon and half marathon now finish.

Although the original course was a reasonably good one, it had one major fault, part of it ran head on into the prevailing north westerly winds so this route was abandoned.

Had the wind not been an issue the route still would not have been able to handle the current traffic and the 4,000 participants that we have for the races.

It is not easy or even possible to find a perfect route due to the limited number of roads that can be used.

Since the inaugural marathon the route has changed several times mainly due to traffic worries. Taking everything into consideration I think the current route is the best we’ve ever had. I know that not everyone out there may think the same but if they knew the constraints that there are when coming to select a route then they may think differently.

So, from the 131 participants in the 1986 Malta Marathon and the women’s 10-mile run, last year we saw a record number of well over 3,000.

The 30th Malta Marathon will definitely see another record number of entries.

Applications are still flowing in but we can say with certainty that the 1,600 foreigners we had last year will increase by at least 200.

Why has the Malta Marathon become so popular particularly with foreigners?

Access to the Malta Marathon is far more difficult and expensive than it is to the many marathons that there are all over Europe.

Over the years we have made significant improvements that have made the Malta Marathon more attractive than other races.

We have improved our medals, traffic management and included chip timing, bands along the route and are uploading photos to Facebook as the event is in progress.

The strong sponsors and partners that have backed the Malta Marathon over the years have contributed immensely to the growth of the event. The Maltese climate in February also has a positive effect on the popularity of the event among foreigners.

A novelty we will have for next month’s race is the distribution of foil blankets to participants as they cross the finish line.

These foil blankets, which will help keep participants warm, will be given out courtesy of DHL.

Also, this year we will not be collecting the timing chips as runners cross the finishing line as we will be using disposable devices.

This will help the flow of finishers after they cross the finish line.

There are other things that we are working on and will be announced at a later stage once everything has been confirmed.

In the meantime while we work on delivering the best and biggest Malta Marathon, keep up that training and take care of yourselves to be at the start line on February 22.