MAAA organise Challenge Meeting 5

On Saturday 28th April, the MAAA organised Challenge Meeting 5at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium. This was the penultimate in a series of six meetings prior to the National Championships. The strong wind did not deter clubs and athletes but unfortunately examination commitments meant that other athletes had to miss out. Notwithstanding, there were several encouraging performances in all categories.

The 110 Hurdles man was the first event of the day. The sole participant in this event was none other than Koen Smet, the current Dutch Champion and semi-finalist in the 60m Hurdles in this year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. Jumping flawlessly over the hurdles, Smet clocked a stunning time of 13.92 seconds.

Koen Smetthen went on to win the Men’s 100m event in 10.96 after battling it out against Luke Bezzina (St Patricks). Bezzinawas a close second in 11.00 thus equalling last week’s national seasonbest set by Steve Camilleri. Veteran Rachid Chouhal (Rush AC) clocked 11.24 to win an honourable third placing while Clayton Sheldon and Julian Mifsud (both Pembroke) shared 4th placein 11.32.

In the Women’s 100m, Kadene Vassel, another athlete from the Dutch group currently in Malta on a training camp, won the race in a swift time of 11.72 andpushed Rachel Fitz (All-comers Aloysians) to an impressive personal best of 11.97. This was Rachel’s first ever sub-12 second clocking and the fastest by a Maltese athlete this year.

Rachel Fitz’s performancealso meant that she achieved the ‘A’ standard for the 2019 GSSE in Montenegro. Janet Richard and Ylenia Pace, both St Patricks AC, were a strong third and fourth in fast times of 12.27 and 12.31. Heat 2 of the 100m also produced some good times. Katya Vassallo (Pembroke) won the second heat in 12.82 while Charlene Fenech (Savio) was second in 12.85.

Rachel Fitz once again confirmed her splendid form by winning the Women’s 200m with a new PB of 24.78 ahead of Janet Richard (St Patrick’s) who was second in 25.17

A good fourth throw in the Women’s Hammer of 42.95metres showed that Antonella Chouhal (Rush AC) is returning to her best form.

In the Men’s 200m, Jacob El Aida Chaffey (Starmax) not only wonthe race but improvedon his personal best. His wining time of 22.27also meant that he became an automatic qualifier for the European Under-18 Championships to be held in Hungary later on this year. Luke Bezzinawas second in 22.69 while the ever-improving Warren Zammit (Rush AC) was third in 22.91.

Matthew Croker of Savio AC won the 800min 2:00.24 and then went on to score another victory in the 400m in 50.82 while in the 1500m Jean Paul Debono (Zurrieq Wolves) continued to dominate. He again was a clear winnerin a time of 4:11.83.

In the absence of Charlton Debono, the 5000m proved to be an all Pembroke affair with Luke Micallef and Ahmed Maxamed dominating the race. In the last 60m, Luke edged ahead to win in 16:06.52, while Ahmed was second in 16:07.43. Another Pembroke athlete Lisa Marie Bezzina (Pembroke)underlined her current good form by winning the Women’s 5000m in 17:36.00 thus meeting the ‘A’ standard for the 2019 GSSE in Montenegro

In addition to a number of encouraging performances by several senior athletes, there were some excellent performances by the younger athletesespecially in the 100m and 400m.

In the Girls U-16 100m, Pembroke athlete Alessia Cristina underlined her return to competition with a convincing victory in a fast time of 12.46. Second place went to Dutch girl Miro Vlasmanin 12.54 while Rachela Pace (Pembroke) was a close third in 12.57.

In the Boys’ U-16 100m, the highly promising Kurt Zahra (Rush AC) won the race in an excellent time of 11.49. Daniel Borg Ferando (San Anton) won second place in 11.88 and Beppe Grillo (Rush AC) was third in 11.93.

The up-and-coming Rush AC athlete Sarah Chouhal clocked a fast time of 59.51to win the Girls’ U-16 400m.In the Boys’ U-16 400m, Kurt Zahra scored another victory in a time of 55.12 but was hard-pressed by Daniel Borg Ferando who was second in 55.33 while Kyle Caruana (Rush AC) was third in 56.92.

In the Girls 9-11 300m, young Angela Vella (San Anton) ran a fast time of 49.65 while the Boys 9-11300m race was won by Andrea Incorvaja from La Salle in 49.20.

The next Track and Field competition will be the MAAARelay Championships which will be held at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium on Saturday 5th May. The meeting starts at 13:30.