Mellieħa A.C. organises the Garmin Qawra Races

For another October Sunday morning, Mellieħa A.C. in collaboration with Garmin (Medcomms Ltd.) organised once again the Garmin Qawra Races on the roads between Qawra and Bugibba, with the finish at the Malta National Aquarium Square.

They were races that reflected our club’s mission of inclusivity in sport, as for the first time we introduced the 5km race alongside the traditional 10km distance, while also giving the option to anyone new to the sport to walk the 5km route.  A 1km fun run for kids concluded the day, with a good number of our club’s nursery section attending this run.

It was heart-warming seeing over 200 adults running either distances, which was the highest number yet for these races organised at Qawra by our club.

While a good number of Mellieħa A.C. athletes were on the side-lines ensuring that everything goes as smooth as possible, over 50 runners were wearing our sky blue kits colouring the roads.

Our own Andrew Grech dominated in his own flying way, virtually making the road his own personal track, registering a personal best in the process while stopping the clock at 32:28, an amazing 53 seconds better off than his win last year.  St Patricks AC’s Jonathan Balzan and Pembroke Athleta’s Brian Magri followed in 33:32 and 34:19.

The first 3 females on the 10k race were Lisa Bezzina (Pembroke Athleta) who has also registered a personal best at 38:50, followed by Tara Abdilla (La Salle AC) and Angele Sammut (Mellieħa A.C.).

At the 5km race, it was Pembroke Athleta’s Mark Herrera that stopped the clock first, running without any obstructions before him, with a timing of 16:11.  Ibrahim Kone and Wayne Cassar followed.

Sandra Schembri (B’Kara St Joseph), Tiziana Zammit (AS Libertas) and Jana Ogrodowski completed the female podium.

The Category Awards were won as follows:

U20
Females: Giulia Magri (Team Fabio)
Males: Karl Farrugia (Mellieha AC)

O/35
Females: Karen Amato
Males: Christopher Mizzi (Mellieha AC)

O/40
Females: Charmaine Mifsud (Mellieha AC)
Males: John Ripineet (Mellieha AC)

O/45
Females: Donatelle Camilleri (Mellieha AC)
Males: Hadrian Bonello (Mellieha AC)

O/50
Females: Jenny Mizzi (Mellieha AC)
Males: Abraham Zammit (Mellieha AC)

O/55
Males: Raniero Borg

O/65
Males: Richard Zammit

 

At the end of the race events in a lively and family-oriented environment, the awards presentation took place.  This was followed by a raffle which presented the 5 lucky winners with the new Garmin Forerunner FR15 watch.

The official results can be downloaded here, while various photos of the day can be accessed from this link.