Local veteran and Zurrieq Wolves A.C. athlete Alfred Debono recently returned from an arduous trip to the American continent where he completed a unique feat by far for many an athlete young and old alike.
Just shy of his 62nd birthday by a couple of weeks, Debono competed and completed no less than four long distance races in the space of four weeks, namely the prestigious Chicago and New York marathons in the United States and the Toronto and Niagara Falls half marathons in Canada.
His first challenge was in the Chicago Marathon (42.2km) on the 10th October where running in a field of over 45,000 runners, the Maltese veteran achieved an excellent overall placing of 1272nd finisher with a time of 3hours 10” 48” and in so doing won the honour of being the 2nd athlete in his category, the over sixties.
Seven days late, in neighbouring Canada, Debono participated in the Toronto Half Marathon, completing the 21.1km distance in a time of 1hour 26’ 46” and in so doing made his own the first place honour in the same over 60’s category.
Spurred on by these successes, the following week Alfred Debono once again repeated his outstanding performance to finish yet another half marathon race with a time of 1 hour 27’ 42”, dominating his category once more and crowning his triple with another first place in the over sixtiess category.
One would expect that by now, the 62 year old athlete would have had enough of running and deserve a good rest, but in true champion character on the 7th November 2010 Debono made his way to the start line in the Big Apple’s greatest running event and formed part of the over 45,000 strong line up.
And on the day when the world’s marathon running champion and world record holder Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie dropped out half way through the same New York marathon and announced the end to his illustrious running career, local veteran running great Alfred Debono went on to complete the race in a time of 3 hours 11’ 18” placing fourth in the over sixties category and achieving a respectable overall finish of 1798th finisher from the entire field.
Without a doubt such a running epic crowns Debono as one of the local running history’s giants and places him in a class of his own considering his past achievements and age... a feat we might well see yet again challenged by the same stalwart in time to come given his untiring and ambitious character and hunger for further success.
Indeed, Debono has carved a name not only for himself but also ensured that Malta’s name is equally etched with success in international running events, including prestigious and esteemed races the likes of the Chicago and New York marathons.
Local Garmin distributor Medcomms Ltd. Sponsor Alfred Debono with a forerunner 310 XT.