Top performers peaking for GSSE

The fifth Aggregate Meeting from the EuroSport Adidas Series, was held on May 3. It was another test for those athletes aspiring for selection to the Malta GSSE team.

In the wake of the successful meetings held at a very competitive level by the Malta Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) week earlier, the elite athletes grabbed the opportunity to continue honing their skills and gradually improve their performances, which will hopefully reach an apex on the appropriate days.

The results being obtained by most of the GSSE hopefuls certainly point positively in this direction. With some others it has not been so easy to gauge because their appearances have not been too frequent. However, the professional preparation which most, if not all, of the athletes are applying to the GSSE run-up, is bound to reap its dividends on the day of reckoning.

In the meantime, with the meeting having to be organised once more at St Aloysius, the MAAA could only offer manual timing. In a drastically reduced field events programme only the long and triple jumps were held.

In sprints, the performances from Celine Pace, 12.3 in the 100m and 25.0 in the 200m, Suzanne Spiteri (12.2 and 25.1), Nikolai Portelli (10.9 and 22.0) and Lara Scerri (12.4) were likewise complimented by other good results at the longer distances.

At this speciality, it was the turn of vintage Ricky Baldacchino and leading lady runner Carol Galea to put in remarkable qualifying times of 32:59.6 and 38:19.6 minutes respectively in the 10,000 metres.

In the 5k race, Charles Cilia and John Buhagiar stopped the clock on 14:43.4 and 15:21.6, a definite improvement, especially in the case of Cilia when compared to the time recorded the previous weekend.

Mark Herrera, in the 800m, had a personal best of 1:56.8, just ahead of George Vella who was less than a second behind.

Other good results were obtained in the 400m where Karl Farrugia ran the one-lap distance in 50.9. Charlene Attard completed hers in 58.6.

The meeting also served as another round in the 'aggregates' reserved for the younger members.

Fine performances by Alessandra Pace (Zurrieq Wolves) in the long jump, 100 and 150m, and those by La Salle's Alessandro Zerafa in the U-14 sprints, compared well with the exploits of their seniors.

The next meeting at St Aloysius, likely to be the last one before the GSSE, is the Joe Bajada Memorial this morning with interesting clashes in the relays scheduled in all categories.