It was mostly smiles at the Marsa Athletic Stadium last Saturday as many athletes bettered their performance from the events of the previous week. Others made it their first appearance and the sprints events, especially, attracted the most participation.

Mario Mifsud (Allcomers Aloysians) made a first appearance in the Shot and Discus events, as did Rachid Chouhal and evergreen Mario Bonello in the 60metres.

At this distance, Andy Grech repeated the time registered last week to ward off his challengers and again claim top spot. Indeed both Alessandra Pace (Zurrieq Wolves) and Grech (Pembroke Athleta) again made it a double by being victorious at this event as well as in the Long Jump.

Other repeat performances but at faster times were registered by Francesca Xuereb for La Salle in the 300m sprint and Gerald Grech (AS Libertas) in the longest run of the day, the 3000m.

Clearly Gerald, in possession of a strong finish and with the Malta Half Marathon in mind, was honing his skills for this most popular athletics event on the Island. His time of 9:23.94 minutes was faster by two and a half seconds and bodes him well for the hallmark event in two weeks time.

Back at the short sprint, despite having both Chouhal and Bonello edging him out, youngster Clayton Sheldon (Pembroke Athleta) still managed to shave off another three hundredths of a second for a seasonal best in the 60m.

Another athlete to put in a fast performance was Neil Brimmer (Zurrieq Wolves) in the 600m, stopping the clock on 1:27.96 minutes.

Meantime, his veteran team-mate Alfred Debono, at an age where most men are content enough enjoying their sporting experience in front of a television set, set a best ever time for a male over 60 years old at the 3000m, by registering a time of 11.20 minutes, proving that it is never too late to actively enjoy one’s sport.

The last meeting of the series, additionally welcoming the younger categories, is scheduled for tomorrow.