This year, the advent of a new season for Athletics Malta has taken on a very sad turn. The sudden passing away of John Walsh, which shocked so many people, even those that viewed the sport from a distance, has left a void the direct effects of which will be getting pronounced the more the weeks roll on, with the non-stadia events getting more frequent as our summer turns to autumn, to spring and to the Malta Marathon.
With three organised road races already over, the focus now turns to the Road Running League, due to commence with the 5km route at Siggiewi on Saturday 22 October.
On the individual plane, Jonathan Balzan, winner of the Ladies Running Club 10km and the current MAAA champion, looks set to continue with his recent years’ dominance. Meantime, Aaron Mifsud, a relative newcomer with loads of promise bagged the Attard 10km, while Jason Martin won handsomely the event by the St Vincent de Paule Running Group.
Both look forward to a successful season, their promise auguring a very interesting League. Reference to these three athletes should not, in any way, demean other, very valid, athletes. To mention especially the lads in orange hailing from the Champion Club Zurrieq Wolves, who last season demonstrated to all their in-depth strength and collective team spirit, when they landed no less than a strong foursome in the first ten in the final classification.
In fact this season should prove to be an even bigger challenge for the top team honours, with Mellieha AC, Pembroke Athleta and the largest club in this sector, St Patrick’s AC, all very capable to make the team title their own.
Among the females, Lisa Marie Bezzina can be expected to continue with her excellent performances, on the tail of her championship success and her best ever results in the GSSE, where she brought home two glorious individual silver medals.
In the team event for women it will be difficult ousting St Patrick’s, who have a lot of talent in their fold.
However, this should all be speculation because the five encounters of the League span over five months, with the Half Marathon at Zurrieq, the Marathon Challenge, the M2S and the Malta Marathon, among others, wedged in between, likely to have a direct effect on the final outcome.