By Arnold Farrugia
This is the 39th Malta Marathon, the 1st held in 1986. With a humble 109 participants taking part in the 1st edition, thousands now take part each year. Details about the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon, scheduled for 25th February 2024, were presented this morning to the press by the organisers at the Barcelo Fortina Hotel.
Education Minister Clifton Grima praised the organisers for their commitment to keeping the Malta Marathon alive over the past 38 years.
Dr Grima said: “It is also very rewarding to see so many athletes take part each year, as well as hundreds of foreign runners who have made this marathon part of their annual calendar. I thank the organisers, LifeStar, partners and officials who keep making this marathon a success.”
Joe Micallef Said: “I thank the Minister for Sport for his presence and I thank the representative of the Ministry of Tourism and sponsor, LifeStar chairman Paolo Catalfamo. 1,800 athletes have so far registered to participate in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon. 525 of these are Maltese, 120 are foreigners living in Malta and 1,150 are foreigners that are coming to Malta purposely for the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon”.
It is predicted that by race day, the number of participants will exceed 3,000 with over 1,500 of these being foreigners coming to Malta for the event.
Needless to say, many of the latter will be accompanied by their companions to see Malta and what it has to offer over for a number of days.
LifeStar chairman Paolo Catalfamo, an ex-athlete himself who was the under-18s 800-metre champion in Italy, said LifeStar would be giving its support to the Malta Marathon for the next three years.
Prof. Catalfamo said: “At LifeStar we are focused on health and wellbeing and supporting this longstanding marathon ties in with our values to promote sports and health lifestyles. We look forward to a strong partnership with the Malta Marathon in the years ahead.”
Redouan Nouiri, the winner of the 2023 Malta Marathon and course record holder in 2h, 13m and 18s will be returning to Malta to defend his title.
For the first time, the Malta Marathon organisers have invited a professional female to participate in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon. This is Moroccan Rabab Halbi who has a personal best in the Marathon of 2h, 35m and 33s.
We are currently negotiating to get over a couple of other professional athletes for the Malta Marathon.
The ladies winner of the 2023 Malta Marathon and course record holder of 2:36:51, Jemima Farley with be participating in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Half Marathon, Jemima is the clear favourite at the moment.
Andrew Grech 1st Maltese home in the 2023 Malta Marathon and previous other editions of the Malta Marathon, will again be taking part in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon.
Over 70 countries will be represented in the 2024 Malta Marathon, with the largest contingencies coming from the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Germany, France and Greece. A number of countries will be represented by just 1 participant.
Inspire has once again been selected as the beneficial charity of the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon.
An exceptional testimonial will also be present at the finish line of the Malta Marathon on 25 February: former world marathon team champion and former captain of the Italian team, Osvaldo Faustini.
Special mention must be made to Charles Darmanin who has finished all editions of the Malta Marathon since 1986 and will also be taking part in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon.
Victor Camilleri of Pembroke Atleta will once again be organising the popular children’s fun run as the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon will be in progress. This year over 700 children had participated.
During the conference, awards were presented to Andrew Grech, winner of the international road running circuit, Running Sicily-Trofeo Nissan Comer Sud, and the Evolve Endurance Club, second overall in the men’s team classification.
Among the people present were the Minister for Sport, Hon. Clifton Grima, the organiser, Joe Micallef, the representative for the Ministry of Tourism, Darren Aquilina and Paolo Catalfamo chairmain of LifeStar, the main sponsor.
