On Saturday 19th May, the MAAA organised the last in the series of six Challenge Meetings at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium. The meeting also happened to be the last possible date for athletes to be selected for the Championships of the Small States in Liechtenstein on the 7th of June and for this reason expectation was high.
One athlete who certainly produced the goods was British based Reece Dimech (Starmax AC). He caught the eye with an excellent double in the 200m and 400m. Dimech's winning time of 21.88 in the 200m not only earned him the qualification ticket for the CSSE in June but his time meant that he achieved the A standard for the 2019 GSSE in Montenegro. Second place went to ever improving Warren Zammit (Rush AC) who clocked 22.50 while third place went to the evergreen Rachid Chouhal (Rush AC) in 23.02.
In the 400m, Reece battled it out all the way with Savio AC athlete Matthew Croker but managed to surge ahead over the last 50 metres. Reece's winning time of 49.84 was the fastest over 400m this season. Matthew Croker clocked a strong 50.16 with Jacob El Aida Chaffey (Starmax AC) third in 51.52. Janet Richard (St Patricks) who also featured in this mixed gender 400m obtained a decent time of 57.07.
In the Men's 100m, sixteen-year old Jacob El Aida Chaffey of Starmax AC was the surprise winner. He set a new PB of 11.00 and edged out Luke Bezzina (St Patrick's) by a mere two-hundredths of a second; Steve Camilleri (Pembroke AC) was a close third in 11.10. Interestingly enough, all three runners (Jacob, Luke and Steve) now have a seasonal best that stands at 11.00 seconds!
Ian Paul Grech (Pembroke AC) fresh from his personal best of 7.43m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games won the Men's Long Jump with a leap of 7.34m. Two other Pembroke athletes Jeremy Borg and Godfrey Sapiano placed second and third respectively with jumps of 6.86m and 6.20m.
In the Men's Hammer, Mario Mifsud (Allcomers Aloysians) set a new national record of 51.30m thus becoming the first Maltese athlete to break the 50 metre-mark. Earlier this season, Mario Mifsud has already achieved a NR of 49.86m in Challenge Meeting 4.
The Men's 3000m was won by the Maltese-Canadian Mitchell Cauchi who covered the distance in 9:19.22. The up and coming St Patrick's runner Jean Claude Randon was a strong second in 9:37.63 while Gilbert Spiteri (St Patricks) was third in 9:59.82
Rachel Fitz (Allcomers Aloysians) was dominant in the women's sprints winning both the 100m and 200m races. In the 100m, she covered the distance in a strong 12.22. Ylenia Pace (St Patricks) and Annalise Vassallo (Zurrieq Wolves) were second and third in fast times of 12.37 and 12.45. In the 200m, Fitz confirmed her splendid form by winning in 25.11 against the 25.63 set by Annalise Vassallo.
The Women's 800m proved to be a close tussle between Mona Lisa Camilleri of AS Libertas and Paula Grech of St Patrick's. They exchanged the lead a number of times until in the end Mona Lisa beat Paula by a mere nine-hundredths of a second to win in 2:15:27.
In the Women's Long Jump, Rebecca Sare (Pembroke Athleta) found little opposition and won the event with a jump of 5.50m. Kristy Fenech (Savio AC) placed second with a leap of 4.57m.
In addition to the encouraging performances by a number of senior athletes, there were some excellent performances in the Youth (Under-16) Category.
Without doubt the best performance of the day was that achieved by Alessia Cristina (Pembroke Athleta) in the Girls' 200m. Running in the outermost lane, Alessia ran a new PB of 25.26 - a very promising time for her tender age. Sarah Chouhal (Rush AC) in a time of 26.30 and Suzanne Buttigieg (La Salle) who clocked 28.44 were second and third respectively.
Sarah Chouhal was once again undefeatable in the Hammer Throw. Her best throw of 47.06m was less than a metre off her best ever performance. Mireya Cassar (St Patricks) placed second with 39.24m and Mariah Zahra (Rush AC) was third with a throw of 30.71m. Kimahri Charles (Rush AC) won the Girls' Long Jump with a good jump of 5.15m.
In the Boys' 200m, the highly promising Kurt Zahra (Rush AC) continued to impress with a winning time of 23.51. Two other Rush AC athletes Beppe Grillo and Kyle Caruana were second and third with times of 23.96 and 25.21, while in the Boys' Long Jump, Zack Mangani (Savio AC) won the event a with a jump of 5.57m thus beating Jeremy Zammit (Pembroke Athleta) to second place.
For full results please visit http://malta.opentrack.run