The Malta Amateur Athletics Association(MAAA) brought down the curtain on the non-stadia competitions for 2016/2017 that commenced last October with the first of two road events over 5km and ended on Sunday with the last 10km at Marsaskala.

With the individual honours for men having been decided already – a best four finishes out of the series of five races – with the crowning of Gozitan Charlton Debono on his second successive win, Sunday’s race confirmed the women’s champion and the final classification for the team event.

Like the Athletix AC top man, Pembroke Athleta’s own Lisa Marie Bezzina also finished first in four encounters, earning her, like Debono, the least penalty points, and an excellent timing at this last race, on a flat course, which she covered in 35 minutes and 53 seconds.

Mellieħa’s Andrew Grech, in the absence of Debono, also posted a remarkable time of 32 minutes 13 seconds.

The race venue, the course that saw St Patrick’s AC clinching the road Relay earlier this year, also determined the final team classification with the new champions in the womens’ category being AS Libertas, who with their runners practically dominated the whole series.

They were followed respectively by the Mellieha and Starmax ladies.

In the League for the men, following a good start by previous champions Pembroke Athleta, who won the first two shorter races, the St Patrick’s AC team overhauled their rivals to win handsomely.

Pembroke were nearly pipped to the second spot by a resurgent Mellieha outfit, the largest non-stadia team on the island, who finished just four penalty points adrift in third.

The MAAA’s focus will now concentrate on its two major competitions, being the GSSE in San Marino, to be held in May  and CSSE in Malta which will be organised in June.