The Awards Night, organised by the Malta Amateur Athletic Association during the first week of December, brought to an end a hectic but very satisfactory year for the local athletic association. Suffice to say that there were no less then 31 newly established records during the year, and that only should be enough to indicate what a very positive year, 2007 has been.

During its awards night the Association named its best athletes in all the various age categories, that is from the cadets to the senior category. It also announced the Athletes of the Year as the overall best performers.

The Council of the MAAA decided to award both Charlene Attard and Francesa Xuereb the title of the (Female) Athlete of the Year after the extraordinary successful year that these two athletes had. In the case of the Male Athlete there was hardly any doubt that Darren Gilford was in a class of his own. In athletics it is not difficult to compare the performance of an athlete in any event against that of others with the aid of the Hungarian tables which awards points for each individual athletic event.

In the case of Charlene Attard, she started the year on a high note when in February 2007, when she managed to establish new National Records in the 60m (outdoor) on three consecutive occasions ( 7.79; 7.77; and 7.66 seconds). However perhaps her best performance came in May when she lowered the 100m record to 11.93 secs which as the first time that a local female athlete ran that distance under 12 seconds.

Francesca Xuereb’s finest hour was in perhaps in the EYOF Games (held in Belgrade last July) when she not only managed to qualify for the final, after placing 2nd in her heat, but went on to put Malta in fourth place in the final. Her sister Martina also fared well (also placed second in her heat) when she passed through the first heat and placed fourth in her second heat in 25.34 which was a PB for Martina.

IAAf World Youth Championships – Francesca again rose to the occasion and established a National Record of 55.10 seconds when running in the final of the 400m of the World Youth Championships, in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Apart from Francesca, Malta was represented by three other athletes, namely Martina Xuereb, Alexandara Pace and Andy Grech.

Martina qualified for the semi-final of the 200m with a P.B. of 25.03, again a very good time for her age. Good performances were also registered by the other two very promising young athletes, namely Alexandra Pace (5.31m) and Andy Grech (6.33m) both in the Long jump. It is worth noting that neither Alexandra nor Andy had any ‘no jumps’ which underlines their serious preparation.

Road Running League 2006/ 2007 – There was hardly any doubt that the Mellieha AC would win the (men’s ) Road Running League which came to its conclusion with the Marsascala 10K in January. The team, which was composed of Robert Attard, Charles Cilia, David Galea and Stephen Borg had a total time (after the 5th round ) of 11:25:08 while second placed Zurriew W (Saliba Joseph, Adrian Mifsud, Melvin Mifsud and Vincent Ghigo ) had a time of 12:04:58.

The women’s League was won by Pembroke Athleta ( Carol Walsh, Lisa Marie Bezzina, Nadia Portelli and Charmaine Pisani Grixti) with a total time of 14:24:27. The Ladies Running Club ( Liz Said, Francesca Arrigo, Therese Camilleri and Mary Rose Herd) placed second with the total time of 15:52:52.

FISEC GAMES – Another upcoming and promising athlete is surely Andrew Cassar Torregiani. Andrew produced a very good performance in the FISEC Games (held in Hungary, on the 24th June ) Long Jump event when he won the gold with his best jump of 6.53m. Indeed a great performance for such a young athlete. Monalisa Camilleri also left a good impression, in these games, with her winning (3) silver medals in the 800m, 1500m and the 3000m events.

World Indoor Championships – However one athlete who was not among the Award winners but certainly deserved special mention was sixteen year old Diane Borg who on 4 March 2007, running in the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, produced the most outstanding performance, registering a National Record of 7.60 seconds in the 60m indoor. She had, on that day, improved the local National Record of 7.76 secs set by Charlene Attard in Moscow the previous year.

National Championships – Last year’s National Championships, especially those for Junior and Senior athletes were perhaps the most competitive, interesting and enjoyable that we had for quite some time.

The National Championships for Cadets and Youths, which are given due importance by the Association as it is during these Championships that we identify future championships, were held between the 19 and 20 May.

The National Championships for Junior and Senior athletes were held between the 12 and 13 May had more significance then usual due to the fact that these were the last major competition for our athletes before they departed for the Monaco GSSE Games.

We saw some very exiting races in which Charlene Attard established National Records in both the 100m and the 200m and Jean Paul Callus again improve his National Record in the Javelin. Antonella Chouhal had a most satisfying event having established Championship Records on both the Discus throw and Shot put.

The Monaco GSSE Games – The level of each event at the GSSE Monaco games was the highest ever. Yet our athletes managed to win five silver and six bronze, in this the most competitive of all sports disciplines. A fine performance indeed!

Perhaps the most exiting finish of these games, was the 100m men in which we saw Darren Gilford (10.69secs) in a dead heat with five other runners.. It had to be the electronic timing to sort the winners out naming Darren Gilford the silver medallist. Charlene Attard (11.97secs) too had a tough competition but had no problem claiming the Silver.

The following day she went on to win the bronze in the 200m event in the fine time of 24.54secs. In the Women’s 400m we saw Francesa Xuereb winning the silver in 55.72secs closely followed by Martina (56.48secs), her twin sister, who won the bronze. Nicolai Portelli successfully defended his Bronze in the 400m when he placed third in 48.72.

In the 800m event, Mario Debono brought the Maltese spectators at the Stadium to their feet when he challenged the Kenyan runner David Karonie (LUX) for the third place in the 800m where Debono closed a ten metre gap in the last few meters from the finishing line.

Mario registered the creditable time of 1:53.32 which was a PB. Rachid Chouhal, managed to win the Bronze in the Long jump with a jump of 7.26m. Carol Walsh had a nagging back injury when she started the 10,000m but continued to defy odds and managed to win the bronze in 37:31.07.

In the 4 x 100m Men’s Relay our team made up of Nicolai Portelli, Rachid Chouhal, Mario Bonello and Darren Gilford won the silver in 41.08 (only 0.39 of a second slower than the winners).

In the women’s 4 x 100m Relay ( Lara Scerri, Therese Mallia, Charlene Attard and Diane Borg), our team again won the silver in a time of 46.65 seconds, which is 0.56 seconds faster then their time in Andorra).

In the 4 x 400m Relay the team composed of Diane Borg, Charlene Attrad, Martina Xuereb and Francesca Xuereb we knew we had a strong team. The local team managed to win the bronze in 3:47.92. In Andorra this event was won (by Cyprus) in a time of 3:49.15 when the Malta team had registered a new record of 3:50.29. In Monaco our team improved their time by 2.37 seconds. But the winner’s time of 3:45.17 was indeed beyond the reach of our athletes.

The European Cup – This year’s edition of the European Cup (2nd Division) was held in Zenica, where the M.A.A.A. was represented by ten athletes, five men and five women, as part of the Combined team of the Small States of Europe. The competition is much tougher than the GSSE as our athletes were here competing against athletes coming from much bigger countries such as Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Israel.

Among the best results for the local athletes was that of Charlene Attard who placed fourth in the 200m with a time of 24.80 secs as well as Martina Xuereb who also placed fourth in 55.80m.

Among the men, Nicolai Portelli ran a great race, running the 400m in 48.13secons to place fourth. Mario Debono, relatively a newcomer in local athletics also ran a great race in the 800m clocking 1:55.31.

IAAF Level One Coaching Course – Between 1 and 14 September, the Association organised yet another IAAF Level One Caching Course which was under the able direction of IAAF Lecturer Mr. Quinton-Steel Botes (from Namibia) who was assisted by Ms Curds and Mr. Scott Grace (both from the UK).

All the seventeen (17) coaches who sat for the set examination managed to pass.

They were required to obtain 75% of the marks to be able to proceed to level two and there again, Mr. Botes himself was very surprised that no less then nine of the participants managed to qualify to proceed to level 2.

The Second European Kids Athletics Games, BRNO – Once again the Association, with the assistance of the Kunsill Malti Ghal l-isport, has again participated in the European Kids Athletic Meeting that was held in BRNO, Czech Republic, between 19 and 20 September.

This event attracted a substantial number of entries from around 12 nations and some 75 athletic clubs, mostly hailing from central Europe and not surprisingly from the Czech and Slovak Republics. Nonetheless strong teams from Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia along with the youth side from Athletics Malta, provided spice and quality to the competition.

This year the Maltese contingent of 19 athletes, of which eight boys, exceeded in number the 14 present last year, winning this time round five medals in the sprints, jumps, relay and middle-distance events.

Heroine for the Malta side was Jana Pace Cocks, earning a bronze each in the 60m and 300m sprints and a third, a silver, along with her team-mates in the 4 x 60m relay, besides placing fifth overall in the long jump. Tamara Vella’s bronze in the Long Jump and significantly in the 800m Christian Luke Chetcuti, with his silver medal in an exact time of 2 minutes 16 seconds had the entire contingent hoarse in support. Janice Borg, Julie Ann Grech, Jana Pace Cocks and Tamara Vella – silver in the 4 x 60 m. relay.

Among the youngest participants, boys born in 1994, Daniel Vella and Jean Gauci both bettered their throws for a ‘Personal Best’ in the Ball throw, but it was left to Miguel Bugeja to break a National Record, when in his 60m heat the promising sprinter clocked 8.29 seconds.

Branding Athletics – To try to make the sport of athletics more attractive in the media it was decided that the Association would henceforth be known as Athletics Malta, a name much easier to pronounce and communicate with. The official name of the Association will however remain “The Malta Amateur Athletic Association” at least for the time being.

The 11th IAAF World Championships and IAAF Congress – This year’s World Championships were held in Osaka Japan in conjunction with the IAAF Congress. Malta was represented at these championships by Charlene Attard and Darren Gilford who both took part in the 100m.

They were accompanied by yours truly in my capacity as MAAA President. I also attended the IAAF Congress, held between 21 and 23 August, which, this year, also included the election for a new Executive Committee.

Considering these were the World Championships, which one can rest assured they attracted the world’s best athletes, both our athletes performed quite well. Charlene placed seventh in a heat with nine runners and was timed 12.06 seconds. Darren Gilford placed sixth also out of nine with a time of 10.92 seconds.

European Athletics Calendar Conference – The hosting of this very prestigious conference here in Malta, between the 11 and 14th October, was the culmination of two years of hard but interesting work. It was not an easy task for a small association like ours to organise such a large international conference with over 300 delegates coming from all the different countries in Europe apart from the fact that there is always a financial (or business) risk.

But thanks to the good planning and hard work put in by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) as well as the support we had from our team of Volunteers, various sponsors and the media during the days of the Conference itself, everything went well and without a hitch.

Mr. Hansjorg Wirz, the President of European Athletics, during the Executive Council Meeting, expressed his satisfaction that in spite of the small size of the local association we had managed to organise a major conference so successfully.

The MOC Sports Awards Night – Athletics featured quite strongly during this sports special evening. Athletics was also revered by the fact that the special guest for the evening was none other than Olympic Gold Medal winner Sergey Bubka.

Charlene Attard, Francesca Xuereb and Darren Gilford were all awarded the Silver Award individually while Martina Xuereb and Nicolai Portelli received the Bronze Award.

The mens’ 4 x 100m GSSE relay team (Mario Bonello, Rashid Chouhal, Darren Gilford and Nicolai Portelli ) were presented with the Silver Award while the Women’s Relay team (Charlene Attard, Diane Borg, Therese Mallia and Lara Scerri) who also won the Silver Medal in the GSSE games in Monaco, were awarded the bronze.

Calendar Meeting – In November the association held its own Calendar Meeting when together with the representatives of the clubs affiliated to the same association as well as of various Committees who apply to organise athletic events during the year, meet to discuss the program of events for the following two years. The program for next year includes no fewer than 58 events.

It also includes an International Meeting earmarked to be held on 26 April as well as registered its intention to apply to host the European Cup competition here in Malta in June 2009.

It was a very busy year for Athletics, on the Road and on the Track and in conference halls. It was indeed a very good year!