The 2010 track and field season got underway last weekend in what promises to be an historic year for Maltese sport and local athletics in particular.
In the third week of June, Malta will be hosting some 500 athletes and a good number of administrators, coaches and other personnel connected with the sport, meaning that the local athletes have good reason to try and make theirs the Malta colours.
At no other time, except at the Games of the Small States of Europe, can Maltese representation be out in such high numbers.
Even taking the GSSE as a parallel, the European Championships Third League will not only afford the locals, as a team, an increase in direct foreign competition - no fewer than 14 other nations besides Malta will be taking part - but even the events will be more plentiful.
During the Small Nations, there are always some events that are not contested because of a meagre entry.
Not so at the European Championships where each nation will be vying for team points besides their athletes going for individual honours. Therefore, it was no coincidence that some of the events forming part of the first meet of 2010 witnessed the on-going progress of some of the protagonists from last year.
Long jumpers Aleksandra Pace and Andy Grech outlasted the competition in the 60m sprint before coming out tops at their favourite event.
Grech posted a time of 7.08 seconds while 2009 female athlete of the year Pace stopped the clock at 8.11 seconds.
To cap the afternoon, Grech cleared 7.02 metres while Żurrieq Wolves jumper Pace managed 5.68 metres. Moreover, the wind against, on occasion, was quite strong, hindering better results. Theirs, however, were not the only results of note.
In his first taste of senior competition at Marsa, Pembroke Athleta's promising sprinter Clayton Sheldon, 15, was second behind Grech in a creditable time of 7.34 seconds.
Similarly, Tamara Vella, from the same club, was shy of Pace by just one-tenth of a second.
Later in the day, Francesca Xuereb, now in the La Salle camp, ran away with the 300m race in a time of 40.98 seconds while Marija Sciberras, in the afternoon's opener, flew over the 60m hurdles in a time of 9.51 seconds.
Overall, a very promising start to an eventful season.