Morocco’s Muhammed Hajjy won the Malta Marthon for a record fifth time yesterday in one of the closest finishes in the 30-year history of this annual event.

Athletes from Morocco dominated this year’s edition as they claimed the first three places. There was a record participation of over 4,000 athletes for this year’s edition which was held in adverse weather conditions.

The first male Maltese athlete to cross the finishing line was Andrew Grech who finished in thwo hours, 32 minutes and 34 seconds, placing eighth overall.

Muhammed Hajjy won in 2:19:28 closely followed by Nasef Ahmed in 2:19:29, in a sprint finish with Italy based Hajjy having the last laugh. Morooco’s clean sweep was completed by Elfeche Abdel Hakim’s third placing in 2:21:36.

The woman’s marathon was won by Samantha Woodward who was followed by Maltese athlete Josanne Attard Pulis who claimed second place.

In the half marathon events, Germany’s Karol Grunebelg won in 1:09:53, followed by Gerry pennington and Pascale Valentin. Malta’s first athlete in the half marathon was Mark Herrera. In the women’s event, Greek athlete Pavlos Tsana claimed victory followed by Simona Bacceti and Malta’s Rita Galea.