For the fifth year running, the National Mountain Running Championships were held in Binġemma, under the auspices of the Mġarr local council and the Malta Amateur Athletics Association.

A record entry of 92 runners were registered for this year’s event which was sponsored by Perskindol, Garmin Malta and Costa Coffee Malta.

The race was staged in a unique countryside setting over a distance of 5.6km with a continuous ascent of 139 metres and slight descent of 35m, starting from Binġemma, Mġarr, reaching one of Malta’s highest points at 240m, and finishing in Kunżizzjoni, Rabat.

St Patrick’s Simon Spiteri, fresh from breaking the four-minute barrier on the 1,500m, claimed the national title.

Running neck to neck all the way with Charlton Debono (Gozo Athletics), Spiteri went on to establish a new course record when completing the distance in 19 minutes and 26 seconds - 14 seconds faster than the previous best held by Laurent Vicente (France).

Debono also managed to finish under the previous record but had to settle for second place in a time of 19 minutes and 33 seconds.

Luke Micallef (Pembroke Athleta) was third in 20:06.

In the women’s category, Malta’s leading long distance runner Lisa Marie Bezzina, of Pembroke Athleta, smashed her own national record by an amazing 58 seconds to retain the title in 21 minutes and 54 seconds.

Angele Satariano (AS Libertas) came second in 23 minutes 24 seconds, just ahead of Celine Pace (Athleta Pembroke) who ran a time of 23:43.

Spiteri, Micallef, Satariano and Monalisa Camilleri will be representing Malta in the European Mountain Championships which will be held in Kamnik, Slovenia on July 8.