The Matthew Micallef St John Athletics Track was a hive of activity yesterday as Athletics Malta officials were applying the finishing touches to their preparations for this weekend's European Teams Championships at Marsa.

The championships will see the participation of 570 athletes, hailing from Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, GSSE Select and Malta.

Anthony Fava, the competition secretary, said the Malta team will be composed of 36 members.

He said he was confident the selection have what it takes to finish in a mid-table position in both men's and women's events.

"Competition will be tough," Fava said.

"We will have top athletes here, like Cyprus duo Kyriakos Ioannou and Elena Artimata, who have competed at the highest level in the European Championships. We know we can't compete with those of a higher level but we feel our team can pick valuable points in some events to finish in the top half of the final standings."

The Team Championships get underway on Saturday with the first events starting at 1.45 p.m.

Competition will come to a close on Sunday with the relays.

Anthony Chircop, Athletics Malta president, spoke of the huge investment his organisation had done to host the championships.

"The requirements established by Athletics Europe to host these championships were very strict. We had to spend thousands of euros to make sure that our facilities were up to standard," Chircop said.

"We have a medical facility and an area for weight-training and works had to be done on the track to make sure we have an ideal venue for competition. The financial costs were not minimal but we are hopeful that this investment will help the development of our sport for the benefit of Maltese athletes."