Jemima Farley defied tough weather conditions to set a new course record at the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon on her way to a second successive victory on Sunday.

The men’s race was dominated by Moroccan runner Alaa Hrioued who strolled to victory ahead of Maltese duo Andrew Grech, who took second place ahead of Matthew Xuereb.

Over 2,800 athletes were at the starting line for the 39th edition of the Malta Marathon which also included the half marathon, on the 21km distance, and the walkathon.

Participants on Sunday had to face some very difficult conditions with incessant rain for most of the race as well as windy conditions which made their efforts even more arduous.

With such weather conditions, many thought it would be highly unlikely for any athlete to break any of the records in both the full and half marathon.

But Farley defied the odds and the Briton achieved the performance of the day with a stunning run. 

Farley had registered for this year’s race as the defending champion and had also set a new course record of 2:36.31 on her way to victory 12 months ago.

However, the Malta-based runner, who is registered with the Ladies Running Club, defied the odds when she powered her way to victory in a new record time of the race when crossing the finish line in 2:35:41.

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