On Sunday 3 February, the Malta AAA organised the fourth and final race in the 2018/2019 MAAA Road Running League – a 10km race which started and finished in Ta’ Qali.
Thanks to his victory in the Men’s 10km race, the young and promising Raptorz runner Dillon Cassar also managed to clinch overall victory in one of the most keenly contested Men’s Leagues in recent years, while the Women’s League was won convincingly by Lisa Marie Bezzina (Pembroke) who remained unbeaten over the four races of this year’s League.
As the runners stepped on to the starting line at Ta’ Qali there were still three runners in contention for overall league victory in the Men’s competition– Dillon Cassar, Andrew Grech (Mellieha AC) and Luke Micallef (Pembroke).
In the initial kilometres, the three runners remained bunched together but at around the 7km mark, Luke could not maintain the punishing pace and in the end, Andrew Grech and Dillon Cassar were left to battle it out.
In the long run-in to the finish, on the former Ta’ Qali runway, Dillon Cassar showed that he had better finishing speed to win the race in 32:34. Andrew Grech was a mere 5 seconds behind while Luke Micallef who faded in the last kilometre had to stave off an attack from Jean Paul Debono (Zurrieq Wolves) to win third place in a time of 33:26.
The results of the Ta’ Qali race meant that in the Men’s Overall League Standings Dillon Cassar was the overall winner, while Andrew Grech was second and Luke Micallef third.
In the Women’s 10km Race, Lisa Marie Bezzina had a clear victory to win in a strong time of 36:40. Roberta Schembri of St Patrick’s was second in 37:14 while third place went to Mona Lisa Camilleri (Libertas) who at the finish managed to outsprint Josanne Attard (Starmax).
In the Women’s Overall League Standings, Lisa Marie Bezzina was first with Mona Lisa Camilleri 2nd and Roberta Schembri 3rd.