Malta Marathon
Josianne Attard Pulis, Lisa Marie Bezzina triumph in women’s categories
Mohammed Hajjy of Morocco and Macek Tierechzho of Poland won yesterday’s full and half marathons respectively.
In the women’s categories it was locals Josianne Attard Pulis and Lisa Marie Bezzina who emerged winners.
It was also a personal satisfaction for Josianne Attard Pulis for having finished first among the women taking part in the full marathon, apart from obviously being the first Maltese woman to finished the full marathon.
Also, Andrew Grech bettered his personal best by about four minutes finishing as the first Maltese and sixth overall in the full marathon, clocking 2:28.16. Jonathan Balzan finished seventh overall in 2:36.08.
Hajjy registered a time of 2:21.06, but it was far from his personal best and the course record he had established in 2013, when he won the event in a time of 2:16.06.
Polish athlete Tierechzho won the half marathon in 1:09.28, beating second placed Pasquale Rutigliano and third placed Luigi Spinali, both Italians.
Attard Pulis clocked 2:58.14 in finishing as first Maltese and first woman in the full marathon.
And Lisa Marie Bezzina clocked 1:22.07, getting a lot of satisfaction for lowering her personal best by two minutes. Her previous best was in 2011 when she had clocked 1: 24.19. Second in this category was another local girl, Roberta Schembri.
Hajjy said he had suffered a lot mostly when facing the wind. “But I am very happy to have won again. I have been here several times (seven in all) and I hope to be back,” he said.
Andrew Grech was elated with his performance. “I have improved my time by about four minutes – from the 2:32 of two years ago to today’s 2: 28. That is much better than I had expected as I had suffered an injury way back in August. I must thank my sponsors, Eurosport, Le Meridien, NYOO, Garmin and Malta Challenge for their support,” he said.
Lisa Marie Bezzina was also very happy with her win clocking two minutes less than her previous best registered in 2011. “After this result I am highly motivated to do well in the 5,000m and 10,000m events at the San Marino Games for European Small Nations in May. I am confident I can bring back two medals,” she said.
Bezzina was sponsored by Urban Jungle, NYOO Hamrun, Garmin, Metal Form, SportMalta, the Malta Olympic Committee and the MAAA.
Attard Pulis said the wind had effected her performance. “That is probably why I was far away from my best which is six minutes less than the time I clocked now. But it is still satisfying to finish among the top runners,” she said.