18th
28th 29th
Maltese top elite runners,
Jonathan Balzan and Carol Walsh win in style
The entry this year reached
101 runners, 26 female (25.74%) and 75 male (74.26%). At completion of
registration, 93 runners collected their “bibs”, 22 female (23.66%) and 71 male
(76.34%), a drop out of 8 registered runners. At the start line in
This year we introduced a
new competition within the Challenge, a “Pairs / Couples” event. Barry believes
in innovation, new things keep us alive and we believe that more couples should
enjoy the same sport. The criteria is simple, one man and one women living at
the same address qualify as a “Pairs” team. The rules are also simple, their
individual “Challenge” times added together. The 1st team will be
the couple with the fastest time. We had 9 teams competing for 5 awards, each
pair wins a trophy and sportswear gifts.
The 1st stage “set-up”
at
Jonathan maintained his pace
and won stage 1 in a time of 38” 44’, 1” 57’ ahead of
The four Maltese runners
that to date have ran all the “Challenges” namely Charles Darmanin, Paul
Fenech, Carmel Herd and George Spiteri all finished.
At the finish, 89 finishers
were recorded, 21 female (23.60%) and 68 male (76.40%)
The whole show moved to the
South of the
Stage 2 started with all 89
finishers from stage 1 and all 89 finished the second day.
The order of finishing of the
first three male and female was the same as stage 1.
Stage 3 started at 07.00hrs
adjacent to the historic setting of the “Knights of St. john”
Again we were blessed with a
fantastic day as time moved forward, sunshine and temperatures reached 21
degrees Celsius. Kristal Table Water stations at 5km, 10km, 15km, 20km and the
finish along with Powerade were all very welcome and well used by all
competitors.
In 2005, Jonathan Balzan
made it into the record books by becoming the first male Maltese athlete to win
the Malta Challenge Marathon. In 2008, Balzan achieved another milestone by
becoming the first Maltese runner to triumph twice as the overall “Challenge”
winner.
Indeed, it was the third
time in four years that a Maltese man had won this annual International unique event
and the second year in succession.
Maltese dominated in both
categories after Carol Walsh, 6th overall, retained the women's
title in 2hrs 50” 39’. Balzan's overall time for the 42.195km distance was 2hrs
26” 29’.
Given that for years this
was the domain of foreign athletes, victories for Balzan and Walsh are a good
reason to celebrate for Race Director, Barry M. Whitmore.
"It isn't our policy to
pay for foreign athletes, which is what you have to do to attract top quality
participants from overseas," race director Barry Whitmore explained.
“Don’t forget that this is an A.I.M.S. measured marathon but it is over 3 days,
not 1, so we can not break World records, it’s more for warm weather training
for top runners”
"This is a family event
where the finishing time isn't that important. Indeed our aim is to ensure that
people have fun and leave Malta having enjoyed a quality event along with our
Maltese runners also experiencing the events top class organisation and good
competition."
"That said, I enjoy
seeing Maltese winners," he continued. "We want Maltese running to
progress and I believe that the more Maltese winners that there are, the more
encouraging it becomes for younger runners to take up the sport."
“To be fair to Jonathan Balzan,
you can only beat those who come to race and he did that in style. Even before
last year's winner, Brian Magri withdrew on the first day; he looked set on
winning. Even with the injury that had been worrying him for the previous two
days, showed no signs of flaring up”, explained Barry.
“In reality, only injury
could have beaten him as he entered the final stage of the Challenge, 25km from
St. Paul's Bay to Valletta, 2” 49’ to the good”.
"I knew that I had a
good lead and the advice was to try to control the race as much as possible.
However, my instinct is to try and do as well as I can, which is what I ended
up doing. In fact this year's time of 2hrs 26” 29’, is better than what I did
when I won the event in 2005 in 2hrs 27” 42’, three years ago and that's
something I'm very proud of. I have shaved off a whole 73 seconds and 3 years
older!!!”
"This has been a
fantastic year as I've won everything there was to win in
An athlete who is aiming
high is Johann Galea who was second throughout the three days. Going into the final
day, he admitted that he knew that it was going to be difficult.
"Jonathan is a very
good runner so I was more concerned with keeping my position. I kept up with
him for the first 6km but from then on he simply took off," Galea said.
If Barry Whitmore's stated
ambition is to see progress among the local athletes, then he will find comfort
in Simon Lia. Last year, the Maltese runner did the final leg in 1hr 48” 52’”,
this year he ran it in 1hr 37” 50’. Also overall, in 2007 he finished in 2hr
56” 47’, this year 2hrs 41” 18’, a massive improvement of 15” 29’ faster which
guaranteed him third place.
"This is
incredible," he said. "It is the first time that I've finished so
high up the rankings. I am indebted to my coach, Rozhnov who has helped me make
such progress. My thanks go to my club and my former coach, Pawlu Camilleri who
guided me in my early years."
In the women's category, Carol
Walsh went into the final day with a sizable 3” 11’ advantage over 2nd
placed, Carmen Hili. This made her an almost certain winner for the third year in
succession and her fourth year overall.
"It went very
well," she said of her run. "I could afford to take it easy because I
had a healthy advantage. That said, I have to admit that I was better prepared
this year than I was last year and look forward to next year with great optimism."
A beaming smile on the face
of Carmen Hili at the end of the race told all about her feelings.
"I'm overjoyed,"
she admitted before adding: "I've managed to run the Challenge Marathon in
under three hours which has long been an ambition of mine. It is the result of
a lot of hard work for which I have to thank Ivan Rozhnov, my coach."
Third on the day was Pauline
Vella in 2hrs 00” 19’ but this was not enough to deprive Rachel Galea of
Stage 3 results – Men
1st Jonathan
Balzan 1hr 27” 32’, 2nd
Johann Galea 1hr 31” 04’ & 3rd Simon Lia 1hr 37” 50’
Stage 3 results – Women
1st Carol. Walsh
1hr 43” 16’, 2nd Carmen. Hili 1hr 47” 42’ & 3rd Pauline
Vella 2hrs 00” 19’
Our thanks go to our Sponsors
Main Sponsor
Hilly Clothing Ltd and Ron
Hill & Graham Richards
Supply Sponsors
Dolmen Resort Hotel
General Soft Drinks
Kompakt Trading Ltd.,
Kristal Table Water
Powerade
The
Subsistence Sponsors
Allfreight Ltd.,
Bacchus Restaurant
Custom Lab Ltd.,
Herbies Jewelers
Isabelle Mizzi Photography
La Sibylle Restaurant
Road Runner Coca Cola mobile
kiosk
Twistee Lites Snacks
Weddings in
Winning Ways
Our thanks go to our Service departments and personnel
The
The Commissioner of Police
The Divisional Police & the
Divisional Assistant Commissioners
The Traffic Police & the
Traffic Assistant Commissioner
The Superintendent of
Traffic Police
Association of International
Marathons
The
The Local Councils of Rabat,
Birzebbuga,
The Mayors of the above
Councils
The BMX Association & the
President of the BMX
The Dolmen Resort Hotel and
their superb staff
The General Manager of the
Dolmen Resort Hotel
The
The “Bollard” Master of
The Scouts of Hamrun Lyceum,
Zebbeg & Pembroke
The working “Team” of the
Family and friends of Barry
M. Whitmore
Overall positions & results – Men
1. Jonathan Balzan
2. J. Galea
3. S. Lia
Overall positions & results – Women
1. C. Walsh
2. C. Hili
3. Rachel Galea
The dates for 2009 are 27, 28 29 November and 2010
are 26 27 28 November
This report is in
conjunction with the President, Founder and Race Director, Barry M. Whitmore
and the Sports Editor for The Malta Times and Shamrock Magazine, Paul Grech