In Lublin, Poland, it was pouring but one drenched determined man, kitted in Maltese sports gear, was running on the slippery roads and there was no stopping him.

George Vella, 35, a deaf draughtsman, took part in the first deaf European Marathon Championships last week.

After a gruelling three hours, one minute and 16 seconds, he crossed the finishing line triumphantly clinching the silver medal.

The 42-kilometre-long road was arduous for Mr Vella: “After 10 kilometres I was in the eighth place. By the 18th kilometre, I was in the fifth position. Then, at 22 kilometres I had reached third place.”

Suddenly realising there was a realistic possibility that he could make it to the podium, he became excited. “I had to make an effort to control my pace,” he said.

At the 32-kilometre mark, he slowly jogged past the runner in the second position. “At that point my legs were hitting the wall but I was 10 kilometres away from finish and I felt this huge responsibility to defend my medal zone,” he said. It did not help that the terrain turned into a gruelling hill.

Mr Vella’s sports’ background – he has been training for almost two decades – came in handy. “It helped me reach the 40-kilometre mark,” he said. By then, the terrain was flat but he was absolutely “burnt out”.

“I honestly did not even know how I was going to run the last leg.” He could see that other deaf runners behind him were getting closer and closer but somehow he made it to the last curve: only 200 metres to the finishing line.

He became so emotional that he ignored his pains and simply ran and ran. “As I crossed the finishing line I frantically and happily signed with my hands,” he said. He signed second place with his right hand and Europe with his left hand.

What followed was sheer jubilation: he had placed second in the deaf category. He was not expecting it: first-time marathon runners, he said, should focus on finishing the race only rather than aiming for a particular finishing goal. “But I lived up to my motto, which is: never give up, everything is possible”.

Never give up, everything is possible

He first heard about the event organised by the European Deaf Sports Organisation, in December. At the time he had been training for the triathlon.

Since the Deaf Sports Association of Malta is affiliated with EDSO and Deaflympics, Maltese deaf participants can take part.

“The minute I made up my mind, I stopped swimming and cycling and focused on long distance running endurance,” he said.

He trained for four months, including track session, as well as slow and tempo runs, increasing the mileages every week.

In Lublin, he joined another 650 runners – deaf and non-deaf.

“Of all the distance running events, the marathon presents the greatest challenges both physically and mentally,” he said, explaining how, for a deaf person, this tends to be more difficult.

“As deaf people are lipreaders and sign language users, they always have difficulties in communicating with others through sports.”

Mr Vella has participated in three Deaflympics: Rome 2001, Taipei 2009 and Sofia 2013.

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