Athletics Malta provide feast of records at Marsa track
●Charlotte Wingfield steals the show ●Lawrence Ransley breaks 50-year-old record
The recently held Track and Field 2017 national championships were a veritable feast of records, 12 in all, of which one quarter were also national.
Malta’s Flag Bearer at the forthcoming Games of the Small States of Europe, Charlotte Wingfield, stole the show on both days over the weekend when she clinched two national records for her performances in the 100m and 200m sprints.
Winning the former in a time of 11.54 seconds, Wingfield was 0.15 faster than her own previous record set in the 2015 European Games whilst her 200m performance saw her register an improvement over her previous year’s record by 0.42 seconds.
The first day of competition saw Roberta Schembri setting a championship record in the 10,000m followed by the fine results by Janet Richard (400m) and Lisa Camilleri (1500m) on Saturday.
On the Field Antonella Chouhal continued her winning streak and strong performances, resulting in a championship recordin the Women’s Hammer Throw (43.21m), whilst Joanne Vella registered another Championship record in the Women Javelin Throw, covering a distance of 42.50m.
A noteworthy performance was also given by Elena Jetcheva in the Triple Jump, which although was not a record was still of a high standard, in fact making the grade for selection to the GSSE had she managed to obtain her citizenship in time. As things stood it was Rebecca Sare who earned her ticket to San Marino in this discipline.
Day Three of competition saw two more records to complement Wingfield’s success – the first registered by Marilyn Grech in the 400m Hurdles, posting a time of 1:07.21 and the second by former gymnast Peppijna Dalli who reached a height of 3.30m in the pole vault. Dalli is no stranger to national competition having represented Malta several times in gymnastics before switching to athletics. What is certain is that she is one to watch.
More records were registered in the males’ competition. Ian Paul Grech registered his in the Triple Jump, beating his own record established in 2016. The young Luca Martini, meanwhile proved his mettle claiming the U/18 national record in the Men’s Hammer Throw.
The 100m results registered by Luke Bezzina and Steve Camilleri are worth mentioning as both athletes crossed the finish line under the 11 second mark. Bezzina gave another solid performance, although short of a record, in the 200m race.
Charlton Debono, the first Gozitan to be representing Maltese athletics at the GSSE registered a track personal best in the 10,000m whilst Luke Farrugia (Discus Throw) and Daniel Saliba (400m hurdles) laid claim to another two championship records.
In the meantime, Lawrence Ransley wrote the most significant history over the weekend when he was the first Maltese national to go past 15 metres with a 7.26kg shot put. The previous championship record was established over 50 years ago by English athlete E Byam who was a member of Atalanta Sports Club which dominated local Track and Field competitions in the fifties and early sixties.
“With approximately two weeks before Maltese athletes compete in the forthcoming Games of the Small States of Europe, these results give us the confidence that our athletes are well prepared for these Games”, explained Edwin Attard, President of the Malta Amateur Athletics Association. “The Games will also be a prelude for most of these athletes who will potentially be competing in the European Athletics Team Championships Third League which will be hosted in Malta. These championships will be another opportunity for our athletes to compete against some strong international athletes giving them added international exposure”.
The Games of the Small States of Europe will take place in San Marino between 29 May and 3 June, whilst the European Athletics team championship third league will be hosted in Malta between 24 and 25 June and will welcome teams from Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Luxembourg, FYR Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro and the AASSE (Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein).