On Saturday 5th May, the MAAA organised its annual Relay Championships. The event also included a number of individual events intended mainly for athletes seeking selection for the 2018 Championships of the Small States of Europe due to be held on the 9th of June in Liechtenstein.
In the Relay Championships it was apparent that a number of clubs had problems in fielding the mandatory four runners and in the circumstances Rush AC must be commended for their ability to put together a number of teams who dominated these Championships.
One of the best performances of the day was that of the Rush AC team (composed of Beppe Grillo, Kurt Zahra, Kyle Caruana and Aidan Garcia) that won the Boys U-16 in a strong time of 47.36. Rush AC notched other victories in the Men's Open 4x100m and the Women's Open 4x100m with respective winning times of 46.25 and 49.62.
Finally, Rush AC also emerged victorious in the mixed 4x400m in which teams where obliged to field two male and two female athletes. Their winning team composed of Sarah Busuttil, Matthew Rota, Sarah Chouhal and Kerstein Micallef won the race in a good time of 3:45.26.
The Boys' Under-14 4x100m race was won by La Salle in 56.09 while the Girls' Under-14 4x100m was won by San Anton in 56.04.
In the individual events held on the day, pride of place must certainly go to Luke Farrugia of Rush AC who set a new national record in the Men's Open Discus. His throw of 50.06 metres meant that he became the first ever Maltese athlete to break the 50-metre barrier. Karol Spiteri (Savio) competing in the Under-18 category also performed well and had a best throw of 43.66 metres.
In the Women's Open Hammer Throw, National Record Holder Antonella Chouhal won the event with a good throw of 40.60metres. The promising Catriona Cushcieri (St Patricks) won the U-18 event with a distance of 39.45metres.
There were a number of good performances on the track. In the Women's Open 300m, there was an impressive personal best of 39.56 by Janet Richard (St Patricks) while team-mate Ylenia Pace ran a strong 40.49 with Sarah Busuttil (Rush AC) placing third in a respectable 40.99.
The 300m Men Open was an all Starmax affair between the highly-talented twins Omar El Aida Chaffey and Jacob El Aida Chaffey. Omar clinched first place in a fast time of 34.99 while Jacob was second in 35.71. Warren Zammit of Rush AC was third in an encouraging 37.05.
The Open 800m was a mixed-gender race. Jean Paul Debono (Zurrieq Wolves) was the first male runner home in a time of 2:01.84 while the ever-improving Paula Grech (St Patrick's) edged out the more experienced Mona Lisa (Libertas AS) in a noteworthy 2:15.69.
Despite having run a half marathon the previous weekend, Charlton Debono (Athletix) sprung a surprise by running a new PB of 8:46.79 in the 3000m. He was well ahead of eternal rival Luke Micallef (Pembroke Athleta) who also managed a PB of 9:03.15. Lisa Marie Bezzina (Pembroke Athleta) won the Women's 3000m in 10.19.03.
The next Track and Field competition will be the MAAA National Youth Championships which will be held at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium and spread over 2 days on Saturday 12 & 13th May. The meeting which will include a number of Open events will start at 14:30.