On Saturday 2nd June, the MAAA organised the first in a series of three meetings in connection with the 2018 MAAA Club's League at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium.
In the three categories contested (namely Men Open, Women Open and Boys U16) there was a close tussle for leading position between Pembroke Athleta and Rush AC and at this stage it appears that overall victory may well go either way.
After the first day the standings were as follows:
Men Open:
Athleta Pembroke 182
Rush AC 169
Zurrieq Wolves 150
Women Open
Rush AC 180
Athleta Pembroke 179
St Patrick's 175
Boys Under-16
Rush AC 71
Athleta Pembroke 70
La Salle 66
The highlight of the day was the new all-time best in the Under-16 200m set by Alessia Cristina (Pembroke Athleta) in the 200m. Although placing second in a race won by senior runner Sarah Busuttil (Rush AC) in 24.96, Alessia's time of 25.01 was good enough to break Diane Borg's 12-year all-time best of 25.22.
In the 800m races a number of good performances were produced. In the Men's 800m, Matthew Croker appeared to be approaching his best from when he ran a seasonal best of 1:57.02 while in the Women's race Paula Grech (St Patrick s) also achieved a seasonal best of 2:14.79 which was a whisker away from the MQS for the 2019 GSSE.
In the Boys' Under-16 800m, Jacob Greengrass (Pembroke Athleta) and Matthias Fenech (La Salle) produced one of the closest races of the day with Jacob emerging winner in 2:09.37 as against Matthias' time of 2:09.59.
In the Men's 1500m Jean Paul Debono (Zurrieq Wolves) won the race in a convincing 4:14.65 but sixteen year old Jake Gauci (Savio Athletic Club), also managed a remarkable PB of 4:19.31.
In the Men's Shot, Lawrence Ransley was just 1cm away from his own National Record with a winning performance of 15.31m while Savio's Liam McKay won the High Jump in 1.80m.