Okay, it's not as groundbreaking as E=MC2, but to experienced distance runners today's headline is not difficult to decipher.
This close to the festive season it can mean only one thing, it's time for the traditional pre-Christmas road race Mdina-to-Spinola on its time-honoured date, the last Sunday before Christmas Day.
This year's event takes place one week tomorrow, Sunday, December 21.
Keen to do what it can to boost the local running scene, Urban Jungle not only annually sponsors M2S but is also an Official Partner of the Malta Marathon.
After the 2008 events, the company sponsored generous bonus vouchers to the first three Maltese male and female finishers in both the Malta Marathon and Half Marathon.
To accord them the public recognition they deserve for their fine performances, let me name the runners involved.
First three Maltese in the marathon, in finishing order (males): Jonathan Balzan, Charles Cilia and Jason Martin, and (females): Carmen Hili, Marisa Muscat and Mary Grace Demicoli.
A number of other athletes were awarded bonuses based on finishing time in the full marathon: Jimmy Sacco, Joseph Abdilla, Johann Galea and Richard Chetcuti. Ever-reliable veteran Martin Agius also received a bonus voucher based on his finishing time.
The first three males and females in the Half Marathon also received Urban Jungle vouchers. Again in finishing order they were (males): Brian Magri, Robert Attard and Kevin Zammit, and (females): Carol Walsh, Angela Sammut and Joelle Cortis.
A small informal meeting was held at the Urban Jungle outlet in Republic Street to present the vouchers and many of those sponsored were able to attend.
Marathon Race Director Joe Micallef took the opportunity to introduce his young son Julian to the limelight.
Although as yet unconfirmed, rumour has it that Julian is already being groomed to take over from his father as Race Director of the 50th Malta Marathon in the year 2035.
Thinking about it, the M2S is the last of its kind, a road race that can still be used to track the performance of today's runners back through the years to compare with those from the past.
No other road race on the current race calendar still remains in such untouched form that today's results can be accurately compared with those of the last 25 years.
Often, for safety reasons (race fields are larger today), so many other traditional races have fallen by the wayside over the years; the much-loved Round the Bastions, the original Village-to-Village, the Xagħra 10-miles in Gozo (I hated the hills but loved the event, especially the boat trip and the sandwiches beforehand).
Just in passing, the idea for the Malta Marathon was hatched during a conversation on a bus back from the Xagħra race.
Let me also not forget the traditional launch to the road-racing season; the Balluta five-miles. Of course, all runners soon learned to take the distances mentioned in the titles of some events with a generous pinch of salt. In a perverse form of generosity, as though wishing to give good value for money, the races were always longer than advertised.
Race details
True to its low-key, no fuss and tradition, application to run in the M2S still takes place in the car park at Mdina Gate on race day at 7 a.m., one hour before the start-time.
The fee is €7 and all finishers receive a UJ M2S medal in Spinola. Runners are encouraged to try and bring the exact fee with them to reduce processing time.
It's already difficult enough to process 200 runners including fees and race numbers in one hour, without everyone showing up with €20 notes!
See you on the M2S startline.
Enjoy your running.
johnwalsh42195@yahoo.it