For a few years, the St Patrick's Athletic Club Summer League 'took over' from the MMOC fun runs. They were more formal, with pre-registration and overall final classifications, and were longer at a standard 10km, but retained the summer evening feel of the defunct fun runs.
One characteristic of these races was that there never was established a fixed routine of locations where they were held. This resulted in a long series of one-offs that was very interesting in itself, which included:
Xgħajra - a picturesque and hilly route in an area that, for most of us, was not very familiar. I hold fond memories of this lovely race;
Pembroke - another hilly area, including some rough patches going through the Armed Forces practice shooting area (luckily not in use during the race), consisting of a double loop;
Naxxar - this one didn't work out well, since there was a loop within a loop resulting in a whole mix-up of bad turnings and incorrect timings;
Għajn Tuffieħa - practically a carbon copy of the MAAA Winter League event, this was unique in the fact that it was a terrifically hot day, with a temperature of 40 Celsius, and several cases of athletes being affected badly by the heat. I remember drinking lots of water during the day, in preparation for the heat-fest, and surviving the ordeal very well;
Sliema - this wasn't a summer evening affair, but a morning race held on Mnarja, 29 June, which marked the beginning of one particular Summer League. It was a very well-attended event, held on the occasion of one of the many parish feasts of this locality, in conjunction with a local band club. We ran down Dingli Street and along the Sliema promenade and back. It was as hot as you could expect of a summer league.
The organisation of three races within a few weeks turned out to be too burdensome for the St Patrick's club, and the Summer League crystallised into its one stable component, which was the Birżebbuġa 10K, still alive and kicking and one of the main road running events of the Maltese summer.
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