First Club League meeting of the season

On Saturday 2nd June, the MAAA organised the first in a series of three meetings in connection with the 2018 MAAA Club’s Leagueat the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium.

In the three categories contested (namely Men Open, Women Open and Boys U16) there was a close tussle for leading position between Pembroke Athleta and Rush AC and at this stage it appears that overall victory may well go either way.

After the first day the standings were as follows: Men Open: Athleta Pembroke 182 Rush AC 169 Zurrieq Wolves 150 Women Open Rush AC 180 Athleta Pembroke 179 St Patrick’s 163 Boys Under-16 Rush AC 71 Athleta Pembroke 70 La Salle 60

The highlight of the day was the new all-time best in the Under-16 200mset byAlessia Cristina (Pembroke Athleta) in the 200m. Although placing second in a race won by senior runnerSarah Busuttil (Rush AC) in 24.96, Alessia’s time of 25.01 was good enough to break Diane Borg’s 12year all-time best of 25.22.

In the 800m races a number of good performances were produced. In the Men’s 800m, Matthew Croker appeared to be approaching his best from when he ran a seasonal best of 1:57.02 while in the Women’s race Paula Grech (St Patrick s) also achieved a seasonal best of 2:14.79 which was a whisker away from the MQS for the 2019 GSSE.

In the Boys’ Under-16 800m, Jacob Greengrass (Pembroke Athleta) and Matthias Fenech (La Salle) produced one of the closest races of the day with Jacob emerging winner in 2:09.37 as against Matthias’ time of 2:09.59.

In the Men’s 1500m Jean Paul Debono (Zurrieq Wolves) won the race in a convincing 4:14.65 but sixteen year old Jake Gauci (Savio Athletic Club), also managed a remarkable PB of 4:19.31.

In the Men’s Shot, Lawrence Ransleywas just 1cm away from his own National Record with awinning performance of 15.31m while Savio’s Liam McKay won the High Jump in 1.80m.