Golden Oldies - 4 - road races in Malta that are no longer

A good while ago I embarked on a nostalgia trip, describing some road running events that used to be very popular among the Maltese running community, but that are now, sadly, only a part of history. I had started off with the summer fun runs, some more fun with the St Patrick's summer league, the Balluta 5 miles race and here, to conclude, some other events that are no longer part of the Maltese running calender. So, here goes...

The Paola Half Marathon

I have fond memories of this short-lived 'sister' of the Malta International Challenge Marathon, for the simple reason that here I obtained my best time ever at a half marathon - exactly 1h30:00 (1h29:59 on my watch).

The Paola half marathon used to be held on a Sunday morning in mid-May. The start was at Paola Square, and the route went through Santa Luċija, Luqa, all the way through Ħal Far to Birżebbuġa, Marsaxlokk and up towards Bir id-Deheb, along the Tal-Barrani Road and back into Paola.

It was just my type of route, but for some reason the event did not gain in popularity. Perhaps the running calendar had already grown saturated, or athletes didn't like the idea of a long distance race in May, when the temperature's already considerably hot in Malta, especially for this type of long distance. Maybe there were complicated traffic considerations, financial viability... whatever. Too bad, because I used to like this race.

The Zurrieq 10 miles

A well-established fixture of the Maltese road running calendar is the Zurrieq half marathon in November. This is an offshoot of an earlier race that was very popular, and used to be held in October: the Zurrieq 10 miles. I remember gaining a couple of very good times in this event. Of course, in those sub-40-years-old times, most of my times used to be very good compared to what I'm achieving as a get ever closer to 50... (goodness, even writing it feels so odd, I can't bear even to look at the number).

Perhaps, this was a bit too close to the end of summer, so runners were still unprepared for a relatively long distance, following the summer break. October in Malta is for all intents and purposes still part of summer, and therefor hot. In all honesty, I've forgotten the route of this race. I have to look up my old running diaries, a couple of thousand kilometres away, to get a few clues. Dear, oh dear. Time is flying, and memories are fading...

The Thomas Cook Charity 6

The route of this event I remember very well, as it was very straightforward. We used to start at Għar id-Dud in Sliema, go to Qui-si-sana, towards Tigne' (this was before they dug the whole thing out) and along the coast towards the Ferries, along the Strand, towards Ta' Xbiex, always following the coast, up to the then Manhattan, now Mamma Mia, Restaurant, and back. Going up back into Tigne', we entered inside toward the Tigne' tower (I don't know if this exists at all anymore), went round it and kept on towards Qui-si-sana and on to the finish at Għar id-Dud.

Here I used to achieve some incredible timings, including a memorable 38 minutes for six miles on one occasion. I was young, and the course was flat... One image that is still sharp in my memory is my good friend Victor's grimace as he ran out of Tigne', while I was still entering in there, before embarking on the final sprint towards Għar id-Dud. It was my same memorable 38-minute six miler, and Victor beat me on that day by close to one minute!

The Birkirkara 10k

On 24 June, or thereabouts, the St Joseph institute or something like that in Birkirkara used to organise a 10km race, in the evening. These would, of course, be held in hot weather, a fact that has some bearing on what happened to me on one occasion.

It was an interesting route, but also very tough for a good part of the way. It would start from next to the institute, close to the Mitħna ta' Birkirkara. We would go up to the Birkirkara bypass, then along that road and eventually taking the left turn into San Ġwann industrial estate. Up till there the route was mostly uphill, but at the industrial estate the road becomes steeper, always uphill. We would go up to the San Ġwann bypass, and on to the Tal-Balal road (even further up) towards Naxxar.

You can imagine how we would be feeling as we approached Naxxar. But, from then on, it was downhill all the way. It was down from the Naxxar church towards the Mercedes showroom. And further down through the main road to Lija, back towards the start. It was a really fast finish.

In my second participation it was particularly hot. As we puffed our way up Tal-Balal road I saw a small crowd on the side of the road, and with a shock realised there was a lady athlete who had fainted. The tough hills and the heat had gotten the better of her. I couldn't just go on and ignore her, so I stopped to help. Except that there wasn't much I could do. Someone was wetting her face and so on, and eventually she recovered. I resumed my run, but finished very late because of the stoppage.

They used to give a prize to the most improved athlete, comparing times between successive editions. The following year I did the race at my normal pace, without any stoppages (there was no one lying unconscious at the roadside in that edition), and lo and behold... I was the third best improved athlete, and received a trophy for it!

So, did I deserve a medal for an act of kindness in sport when I stopped to help a fellow athlete in distress? Or should I be censored for accepting a prize on not exactly the fairest of premises?

This race was eventually taken over by the Birkirkara local council, changed route, distance and date several times, and I believe has now morphed into a series of 5k races, although I stand to be corrected. Slowly, but surely, I'm losing track of what's happening in the homeland. It's getting on to seven years since I left, there are new events, and so many new runners that nowadays I almost feel like a stranger when I run in an event there...

Golden Oldies - 3 - The Balluta 5 Miles

The Balluta 5 Miles probably deserves pride of place as THE classic golden oldie, as far as Maltese road running is concerned.

I'm not well qualified to recount the history of this race, which I believe goes back to the 60s. But I can recount my own experience of it. For a brief spell in 1982, having taken an interest in road running, I joined the Malta University athletics club, and a guy named Paul, who was very active in athletics at that time, took me for some practice on the route of an upcoming event - the Balluta 5 Miles.

We met on a late, cool, September evening at Spinola Place, in front of the Tigullio night club, which was still in business at the time. A few minutes after we set off I realised that the route was much more than I had bargained for. The road went up to Paceville, further up to St Andrew's, and then further and further up through Tal-Ibraġ. The hill was steep, and it seemed as if it would never end. It did, in fact, finally end after we had gone past the Halland Hotel, with me panting desperately, and Paul asking me if I was OK... Well, sort of, I was still alive. The route proceeded towards the Tal-Balal crossroads, and from then on it was blissfully downhill through the main road of San Gwann, all the way to the steep "tal-Kirxa" descent to Balluta, plus a final short stretch towards Spinola place.

The Balluta 5 was the first stage of what used to be called the Winter League (nowadays the MAAA Road Running League), but it was generally far from being a wintry affair. Three in the afternoon, on the first Saturday of October is usually almost as hot as the peak of summer! But for the 1982 edition, my first-ever official road race, the 'winter' label was well deserved. It was a rainy afternoon, one of those autumn affairs where it rains buckets and Malta's roads are transformed into rivers. My race, a handful of days after the trial evening run, went reasonably well as there was no nasty surprise element of the Tal-Ibraġ hill. My most vivid recollections of that race, 27 years later, are running ankle-deep in water at the lower end of San Gwann, and crossing the finish, very pleased with myself, in penultimate place. It was my first and probably highest ever placing in a Winter League race, since on that day the entire field consisted of just about 25 competitors...

It was close to a decade later that I returned to running, which meant that I took part in this race for several more times in the 90s. But not for too long, as the event would soon be discontinued, perhaps due to traffic management problems, or maybe because of its non-standard distance, given that the other MAAA road running races were 10 km long. Pity. This was a classic race, and it deserved to keep its place in the Maltese road running calendar.

Golden Oldies - 2 - The St Patrick's AC Summer League

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.

Golden Oldies - 1 - The MMOC Fun Runs

I love the Maltese running scene. It's one of the factors that I miss most of my native country. There's a well established calendar of races, and one gets used to a yearly cycle of training for the different events, each of which provides a pleasant, friendly atmosphere and is well attended.

Inevitably, along the years, some events eventually die out. Care for a nostalgia trip...?

The MMOC Fun Runs

I will start with the event where it all started, for me. The Malta marathon organising committee's fun runs throughout each summer. These used to be a series of short races held roughly every other Wednesday in different parts of the island, starting at 7pm. My first such fun run was in Marsascala, starting next to the San Tumas tower, all the way along the coast towards the old national swimming pool and back, for a total of 4.2km. In those days (the very early 90s) there would be over 200 participants in these runs, and the printed results would be handed out at the following race.

Other races in this series, most of them 4 to 5 km long, included:
Birżebbuġa - from Al Fresco to Freeport and back
Ta' Xbiex - Whitehall Mansions to Tignè and back
Siġġiewi - starting at the main square, a 5km loop through country roads around this village
Qawra - another fast loop starting and finishing next to Ta' Fra Ben
Rabat - 7.7km from Point de Vue place to Dingli and back, finishing next to the Roman Villa
Żurrieq - a 5 km loop starting from the Zurrieq Wolves clubhouse.

At the end of each race, they would raffle out a pair of shoes, by drawing the number given according to your placing. I was lucky at least twice on these occasions. On one remarkable instance, at a stage when the top athletes had begun to concentrate on more 'serious' events, I even came in first! This was at Siġġiewi - an incredible sensation, which is bound to remain a unique case.

It's a pity that these fun runs are no more. The informality, the summer evening atmosphere... they were unbeatable. They were also a means to encourage new participants to join the wonderful world of athletics, a sort of 'soft' introduction that was a 100% success in my case.

Unfortunately, their raison d'etre gradually came to an end. The fun runs had been introduced to fill a long gap of inactivity in athletics during the months of summer. But, with the growth of the Maltese athletics scene, other races began to 'creep' into this season too, with an inevitable dwindling and eventual dying out of attendances.