The MAAA Junior and Senior national championships held over last Saturday and Sunday produced some very exciting performances which were more important in view of the forthcoming Monaco GSSE Games.

One of the very first events was the men’s 100m where we saw Darren Gilford jumping in the lead half-way down the straight finishing in 10.65secs followed by Jeandre Mallia (10.93secs) and Rachid Chouhal (10.95secs).

Gilford was again very impressive in the 200m sprint when he was leading Mario Bonello up to 30 metres from the finish, but the more experienced Mario gradually narrowed the gap and went on to win in 21.90secs, with Gilford clocking 22.18secs.

In the women’s sprints, Charlene Attard did not only win the sprints double but established national records in both events.

On Saturday she won the 200m in 24.52 secs, followed by Therese Mallia (in 25.28 secs) while the following day, in the 100m, she burst out of the blocks running away from all rivals and stopping the clock in 11.93 secs to become the first local athlete to go below the 12 seconds barrier. Again, Therese Mallia placed second in 12.33 secs.

Francesca and Martina Xuereb brought the spectators at the Marsa to their feet with their great performance in the 400m race. They came out fast out of their blocks but were up with the other runners up to the first 200m. They started going into the lead around the final bend and came up front running neck to neck down the straight up to ten metres from the finish. It was Francesca who gave the final spurt to win in 55.32 secs with Martina close behind in 55.41 secs. Indeed a very good performance for the two 16 year old twins.

Jean Paul Callus lifted the national record in the Javelin by 6m, from 54m to 60m two years ago. It was only last Saturday that he again managed to add another metre to set a new national record of 61.07m in the Javelin Throw.

Antonella Chouhal, who two weeks ago set a new record of 40m for the Discus, set a new Championship record of 12.28 metres in the Shot put.

Other good performances were registered by Mark Herrera in the 1500m who won the event in 3:58.94, by Rachid Chouhal in the Long Jump (7.39m), the time of 50.2 and Mario Mifsud’s throw of 40.13m in the Discus.

The above results clearly indicate that the athletes timing of peaking is precisely on time and augur and indicate that we should expect positive results in the Monaco GSSE games.

Between today and tomorrow, the MAAA will be holding the National Championships for Cadets and Youths, with the first events starting at 1.30pm.