A record 5,100 athletes have registered to take part in this year’s LifeStar Malta Marathon, which kicks off Sunday morning in Mdina.
This will be the 40th edition of the annual race that was first launched in 1986, with this edition seeing the number of athletes more than double the 1,800 who attended last year.
Organisers said 2,600 foreign competitors from 80 countries and 500 non-Maltese residents will join the race.
Around 300 participants will take part in a five-kilometre charity race while 700 children are also expected to join the day’s activities in a 1.5 km race.
Roads including the Marsa-Ħamrun bypass and others across the length of the race will be closed tomorrow morning and, in some areas, up until 1pm.
The event will welcome several international and local sporting figures, including 2024 Malta Marathon and three-times French Marathon champion Alaa Hrioud (bib one) and Italian Marathon champion Oukhrid Lhoussaine (bib two).
UK Paralympics gold medallist and world record holder Richard Whitehead (bib 52), who runs using prosthetic legs, will also take part.
Maltese athletes in attendance include Charlton Debono (bib nine), Andrew Grech (12), David Mansfiled (13) and Joanna Attard Pulis (54).
Former 3,000 steeplechase champion, including 1982 European Championships and Helsinki World Championships silver medallist, Boguslav Maminski (Poland) will also join the race.
The marathon will kick off in Mdina at 7am, with five hours granted to competitors to complete the race.
The Half Marathon will get underway at 8:15am with a three-hour time limit, with the Malta “Endo” Walkathon – part of the Half Marathon – starting at the same time and lasting three and three-quarter hours.
The five-kilometre ‘Run and Walk’ event and the children’s 1.5km race will start in Sliema at 7:10am and 8:35am, respectively, with the competitors in the five-kilometre race given one and one-quarter hours to complete the challenge.
Road closures
A number of roads across the marathon route will be partly or fully closed tomorrow.
The Marsa-Ħamrun bypass will be closed in the direction of Marsa between 8.35am and 11.30, with motorists heading south asked to go via Ħamrun or Qormi instead.
Triq l-Imdina joining Birkirkara to Fleur De Lys will be closed from 8.30am to 11am, with motorists advised to approach Mhriehel from Triq il-Kanun.
Roads around Ta' Qali and Attard will see a number of closures from 7.10am until 10.40am. Motorists are advised to pass through Żebbuġ for Valletta, Sliema and the south.
Mtarfa will see closures early on Sunday morning from 6.30am until 8.20am, with various roads around Mosta closed from 7.40am until 10am.
Meanwhile, seafront roads in Ta' Xbiex, Msida, Gżira and Sliema will see closures from 7am until 1pm, with roads closest to the finish line staying inaccessible until later.
Buses will not operate between Attard, Santa Venera and Valletta from 7.10am to 11am.
The full race, including interviews and the prize-giving ceremony, will be broadcast live on TVM Sport and from the finish line in Sliema on Bay Easy 100.2.
Transport authorities have provided maps of road closures across the route on Sunday February 22:
Rabat and Mtarfa road closures.
Ta' Qali and Mosta road closures.
Attard and Mriehel road closures.
Ħamrun and Gżira closures.
Sliema closures.