Tonio Farrugia, of St Paul's Bay, writes:
Congratulations to John Walsh for his interesting Saturday articles which each year provide both beginners and experienced runners with useful information in their preparation for the forthcoming marathons.
Moreover, his contributions are sometimes accompanied by interesting statistics of past races as was the case last Saturday with the Urban Jungle Mdina-Spinola annual race.
It was this statistical detail which led me to write this piece as an addenda to the information supplied by Walsh regarding the 34 different athletes who managed to cover the 11-mile route under the one hour mark from 1979 to date.
In actual fact, the first time the Mdina-Spinola race was staged was on June 6, 1953 and the name of the race was then the 'Coronation Road Race' (as part of the Malta festivities to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth) with the route being Mdina Gate - Saqqajja - Attard - Imriehel - Fleur de Lys - Mannarino Road - Msida - Ta' Xbiex - Gzira - The Strand Sliema - Tower Road - Balluta and finishing in line with the Neptunes waterpolo pitch.
Eight runners took part in that first Mdina-Spinola race with Ducker, of Atalanta Sports Club, being the first man in with a time of 61 minutes 45 seconds.
In the years that followed various athletes managed to go under the one-hour mark. The first to achieve this feat was William Moorehead in the third edition of the race, staged on March 11, 1956.
Moorehead, called by the Press 'Mr Perpetual Motion', clocked a time of 54 minutes 38 seconds.
Other runners to enter the 'sub-60 club' were Tom Mercer, who won in 1957, in a time of 54.40, and again in 1958 with a time of 53.24.
The route record was further improved by the winner of the 1959 race, G. Moralle, who stopped the clock on 53 minutes flat, and a year later by J. De Ath of the RAF who won the race in 52 minutes 32 seconds.
As for the locals the first Maltese to go under the hour was J. Attard when he finished second in the 1957 race in a time of 58.35.
Other locals to follow suit were Grima, of L.A.A., who finished second in 1961 in a time of 57.18, and the great Martin Abel, of Hercules AC. He clocked 58.02 in 1962.
The first Maltese to win this annual race was a youngster by the name of Ritchie Saliba, of Hercules AC.
He finished first in 1963 with a time of 54 minutes and six seconds.