A 28 year old Kenyan athlete, Philomen Metts Kipering won this year's edition of the BMW Malta Marathon which was held yesterday on a rather warm Sunday morning which was described by several athletes as an ideal time to run a race with excellent conditions throughout.
Kipering clocked an impressive time of 2hours, 20 minutes and 43 seconds although he was just one and a half minutes off the pace of the Malta Marathon record set last year. He was around a minute ahead of second placed Yousef Banniz, a Moroccan athlete who managed to clock 2 hours 21 minutes and 31 seconds. Placing third was another Kenyan, Edward Tabat who managed a time of 2 hours 23 minutes and 38 seconds.
The first Maltese athlete to come in was the much loved and admired Jonathan Balzan who came in 5th and clocked a steady time of 2 hours, 32 minutes and 32 seconds, quite impressive considering that he had been plagued by several injuries throughout last year. The other Maltese athletes who placed in the first ten were Jason Martin and Peter Azzopardi who came in 7th and 8th respectively.
Speaking to the media after his victory, Kipering said that he was very happy with how the race developed and also described his affection for Malta which he described as an ideal country to train in. He said that he didn't actually expect to win the race but was prepared to register a good time.
Commenting on the course, Kipering said that it was a fine route throughout several different terrains which were similar to his training courses in Italy and Kenya. Asked if he was disappointed at not breaking the marathon record, he said that although he tried to register the best time ever, he was quite content to end up with the winner's trophy.
The Malta Independent also spoke to Jonathan Balzan who expressed his joy and surprise at being the first Maltese athlete yet again.
"I certainly didn't expect to be the first Maltese athlete in, let alone place 5th overall with a time of 2'32'32. Considering all the injuries and lack of proper training in the past year, this is really a great result for me. I also felt that the course was slightly hard due to rather windy conditions but these posed an added challenge which I am quite happy to have overcome. My aim now is to recover completely and continue improving my time".
As in the previous four years, the first woman in was the indefatigable Carmen Hili who shaved off a full six minutes off her best time last year when she clocked 3 hours, 6 minutes, 19 seconds placing 25th overall, an extremely good result.
Commenting after the race, Hili expressed her satisfaction at being the first woman to place in the marathon. She attributed her success to pacing the race better by slowing down in the first kilometers and then increasing the tempo as she neared the finish.
Asked about her future plans, Hili confirmed that in the next two months she would be participating in the London Marathon where she would also by running for charity in aid of cystic fibrosis sufferers.
The half marathon results brought Englishman James Douglas into first place with a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 2 seconds closely followed by another Englishman, Kieron Reece who clocked 1 hour, 11 minutes 27 seconds. Robert Attard, the first Maltese athlete came a creditable third with a time of 1'12'05 with other Maltese athletes Kevin Zammit and Gerald Grech placing 5th and 6th respectively.