Malta marathon
You're here: Home / Races / Malta marathon
Description
I had the chance to win the trip + hotel + bib thanks to Sport Tour International, I want to thank them here.
The Malta marathon takes place at the end of February, the start is at M'Dina, 200m above sea level for a finish at sea level in Sliema, in the port, opposite to La Valette. So the route has a downward profile overall, but you should not underestimate the few climbs present on the route.
There is also a half-marathon and a walkathon (the half marathon by walking) which start about two hours after the marathon.
My race
I could not train properly for this marathon because I still had pain in my plantar fascia and 1 week and a half before I fell from my bike with a burn on my upper thigh which had trouble healing.
But my goal was to take advantage of the race and in no case to attempt a record.
Near the hotel, a shuttle waited for the runners to take them to the starting point, located 20 minutes by bus, roughly in the center of the island. The departure took place at 7:30 am in the old capital M'Dina at 200m altitude.
The weather is cool and the weather forecast is not pleasant, thunderstorms are forecast, they even speak of possible hailstorms.
After a little warm-up, I got on the line to wait for the start. About 600 runners were ready to do battle with the legendary distance.
The start given, the first 5 kilometers downhill allowed, with the day already well up, to admire the charming city of M'Dina perched on its hill. We went around this city before making several loops to go to the city of Mosta.
While running I didn't really realize that we had done so many loops.
One thing surprised me, the course is not really isolated from traffic, so you have to be careful. The lane is reserved for us only when the runners arrive.
On this part (between the 5th and the 25th), the route is rather flat, but we still faced a hill of more than one kilometer which left some traces of fatigue.
The supporters are not really present, there is just a couple armed with whistles who encouraged us, I think they were waiting for friends runners.
From the 25th we join the main road to go to Sliema. At this point the half-marathon started later join our course, the consequence is that from that moment, I did not stop being overtaken by the competitors of the half-marathon, which can for some put a down feeling.
I got overtaken by the first of the half-marathon, they had an incredible ease.
From there, the profile goes down to the finish.
Towards the 28th kilometer, the planned stormy downpour started ... in 20 seconds I was really wet, shoes filled with water. This downpour lasted between 5 and 10 minutes, there were big descents of water which crossed the road, it was necessary to be vigilant.
I feel weak, but taking a small bottle of Powerade given by the volunteers, I felt much better.
You should know that there are water supplies every 5 km, but there is however no solid. Orange wedges were proposed at the dood supplies, there were 2 stand of Powerade and about 4 or 5 sponge stand.
Around the 37th kilometer I started to have muscle aches, I had more and more difficulty keeping pace, so I slowed down naturally.
At that time the supporters were much more present, but they didn't succeed to make me find my stride from the start.
Despite everything, I succeeded in the last 800 meters to have some speed when I saw the finish line, I tried to encourage a person I saw walking.
I finally crossed the finish line, very happy with myself. I estended my neck to receive the medal, take a bottle of water, one of Powerade, a banana and a cereal bar.
I looked around to see if there was a podiatrist to see the condition of two of my toes that hurted while running, but there were only masseurs.
So I went back to the hotel to take a cold bath for my legs to promote recovery and I took a well-deserved nap.
Route
Elevation profile
