MAAA to host Track & Field Winter Championships today

The Malta Amateur Athletics Association will host its annual Winter Championships at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium at Marsa today.

This event normally serves as an opportunity for athletes to gauge their levels ahead of the forthcoming season.

Successfully revived in 2016, the championships will see a number of track, jumps and throw events.

Athletes will be allowed to take part in a maximum of three events, which may be either two track and one field event or two field and one track event. Athletes will be able to compete in one of the six categories which start from (born 2006, 2007) and go up to Senior (born 1997 or before).

The Winter Championships will also serve as potential selection for the European Throws Cup to be held in the Canary Islands in March. Athletes managing 850 points or above on IAAF Scoring Tables will be considered for possible participation.

With a number of athletes seeking selection for this year’s Games of the Small States of Europe, to be held in June in San Marino, the association is expecting to see some star performances. Athletes such as Lisa Bezzina, Rebecca Sare, Matthew Croker, Charlton Debono and Ian Paul Grech have been performing consistently well and some highly competitive action is expected from their part.

In the younger categories, if their performances in last year’s European Kid Games in Brno are anything to go by with, then the Elaida twins, Alessia Cristina, Sean Spiteri, Kurt Zahra, Sarah Chouhal and Rachela Pace are some of the junior athletes expected to make some headlines.

In the meantime, the association has announced that Malta will host the 2017 European Athletics Team Championships Third League between the 24 and 25 June. This event follows the successful inaugural Championships of the Small States of Europe.

The general public is encouraged to attend. Competitions will start at 1.30pm and are expected to finish at 5pm with an Awards presentation.