The 21st edition of the Malta Marathon is to be held on Sunday 5 March. For the fourth year running, BMW is sponsoring this international event.
Other Official Suppliers are San Michel, Powerade, Urban Jungle and Air Malta.
The Marathon will be over the classic distance of 42.195 km (26.2 miles) and will start at Mdina at 8am. On the same day the Organising Committee will also organise a Half Marathon (distance 21.097 km, 13.1 miles), which will also start from Mdina, but at 10am.
Defending champion, Abdel Kebir Marchane will return to defend his Full Marathon titles, which he won in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005, in the latter year he also established the Malta Marathon record, finishing in 2.19.08. The MMOC is currently negotiating to bring over another Moroccan and a Kenyan to challenge him.
Maltese top distance runner, John Buhagiar has confirmed his participation in the Full Marathon. John has had several successes in the Malta Marathon coming 3rd in 1999, 1st in 2000 and 2nd in 2003. Carmen Hili, 3rd in 2002, 2nd in 2003, 1st in 2004 and 2nd again in 2005 has also confirmed her participation.
In the Half Marathon there are several local and foreign athletes who will be battling it out for the top places. Charles Cilia winner of the 2005 BMW Malta Half Marathon and 3rd placed Mark Herrera will be two of these athletes, Jonathan Balzan who placed 2nd last year will be missing this year due to injury.
Carol Walsh, winner of the Malta Half Marathon on several occasions will not be competing as she will be away from the island. Cecila Fenech winner of the 2005 BMW Malta Marathon shall this year be competing in the Half Marathon, Lisa Bezzina will be her main challenger.
The number of Maltese athletes in the Marathon and Half Marathon is expected to be over 360 – clear proof that amongst the local running and fitness communities the Malta Marathon, but especially the Half Marathon are viewed as the most important events of the year.
As in past years, most foreign runners in the two events are from Germany but there is also a sizeable number from Britain and groups from other countries such as Holland, Italy, Japan, France and Austria. There are a number of other individuals coming from other various countries. The total number of foreign runners is expected to be the region of about 370. In 2005 there were a total of 307 foreign athletes.
In total there will be about 180 participants for the Full Marathon and 530 in the Half Marathon.
The presence of foreign runners is made possible thanks mainly due to the promotional work done by the Malta Tourism Authority and the continued support they give to the Malta Marathon. This year an advertising campaign was carried out in Germany, this included distribution of advertising material in a number of German marathons and advertising in a German running magazine. Hopefully next year, this could be extended to other countries such as France and Italy. The MTA also plan to carry out some advertising through running clubs.
This year through the assistance of the Malta Police, there will be better control of traffic with more police and wardens out on the roads. A few roads will also be totally closed to traffic.
Another initiative that the MMOC is undertaking is to have live bands along the route, something that is quite familiar in other international marathons. There will be live bands in Rabat, Zebbug, Qormi, Msida and Gzira. These bands encourage athletes as they run their race and will hopefully encourage the Maltese public to stand by the route and applause the runners to encourage them in their feat, something that unfortunately is lacking in Malta.
As in past years there will also be a 2 km Fun Run which starts from the Ferries at Sliema. Like last year, this year’s run is also open to parents rather than just children and should prove to be an enjoyable family activity. All finishers will receive a medal, refreshments and a goodie-bag. The run will start at 9.00 a.m. and is being co-ordinated by the enterprising athletic club Pembroke Athleta (Tel: 21433452). Participants in the Fun Run are being asked to register by Thursday 2nd March. The fun run is also being organised in collaboration with Powerade and ‘Il-Razzett tal-Hbiberija’.
The Police Force will be providing considerable assistance by controlling traffic along the route. The public are invited to co-operate with directions given by the Police and are also asked to avoid roads that are being used as part of the route.
The Armed Forces of Malta will also be providing vital assistance. Members of the Armed Forces will be manning a number of Water Stations and the presence of their trained personnel contributes in no small way to the success of the event.
Other organisations are involved in the running of the event. These are: the Salesians of Dingli, Kerygma, St Aloysius Scouts, Mosta Scouts, Lyceum Scouts, Hamrun Scouts, Santa Venera Scouts, Attard Scouts, St John Ambulance, Malta Red Cross Society, Ladies Running Club and a large number of other individuals who voluntarily offer their time and commitment for the success of this major annual sport event in Malta.
The Malta Marathon Organising Committee thanked the Minister for Tourism for his continued support.
Registration (during which runners will receive their race number and full race details) will take place at Muscat Motors, Rue D’Argens, Gzira. Times for registration are the following:
Local runners: Saturday February 25 from 11am to 3pm.
Foreign runners: Saturday March 4 from 3pm to 7pm.