A visibly emotional Alan Camilleri was the first to cross the SportMalta Charity Marathon
finish line today in Sliema. Camilleri, a favourite to be one of the front runners delivered a
well executed race, when he completed the distance in 2 hours 33 minutes 18 seconds.
Camilleri started the race well behind other favourite Andrew Grech who led the way until
Santa Venera when Camilleri overtook to make his way to his first marathon win. Gracious
in victory he waited for, what he referred to as his idol, Grech who finished in second place in
a time of 2:41:43. In third place was Clyde Sciberras, who finished in a time of 2:56:40.
The femalesâ race was won by Margaret Cremona who, hailing from the triathlon scene, was
taking part in her first Marathon. She finished the distance in 3:32:45. She was followed by
Olwyn Dunne who finished nearly six minutes after her. Sarah Nicols took up the third place
on the femalesâ podium in a time of 3:44.05. The second Maltese female to finish was
Marquita Muscat followed by Camilla Higgins.
Half Marathon
Maltese National Champion Dillon Cassar showed his dominant form as he finished the race
in 1:05:17. Cassar who currently has been focusing on 5k and 10k races in preparation for the
forthcoming Half Marathon distance in the Mediterranean Games in Oran, was a favourite
but todayâs result was not expected. Cassar finished nearly five minutes ahead of Luke
Micallef. In third place was Simon Spiteri, who eventually edged Charlton Debono to third
place.
Female favourites Roberta Schembri and Lisa Bezzina ran for most of the route with each
other in tow, however in the end it was Schembri who prevailed. Schembri crossed the finish
line in 1:17:35, followed by Lisa Bezzina. Bezzina, who recently ran her first Marathon in
Valencia finished in 1:19.0. Third placed was Irish athlete Catherine Thornton who clocked a
time of 1:22.42.
âTodayâs race was about giving athletes the opportunity to run on home ground, after months
of preparation. Despite the short time frame we had to bring all this together the synergy
between all stakeholders made it possible for a successful race to take placeâ enthused Mark
Cutajar, CEO SportMalta. âIt makes us proud to see many Maltese taking their place on the
podium, particularly since there was a strong international presence. On behalf of the
organising team I congratulate all those taking partâ.
The SportMalta Charity Marathon was organised in collaboration with Transport Malta and
held under the auspices of Athletics Malta. The organisers would like to thank local running
Clubs Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club and Agones SFC for their invaluable logistical help.
Official Results of the SportMalta Charity Marathon can be found here –
https://my.raceresult.com/192761/results
