Entry list rises to 3,200

Record entries at the Malta Marathon show no sign of abating as it was revealed yesterday that this year’s edition has again attracted unprecedented numbers with some 3,200 runners expected on the starting line at Mdina Gate on February 24. There will be 465 in the marathon, 1,800 in the half-marathon and the walkathon will feature 1,000 entries, new benchmarks in all three events. Joe Micallef, chairman of the Malta Marathon Organising Committee, could not hide his delight during yesterday’s official launching of the 2013 races. “This is a huge response we’ve had,” Micallef said at the Radisson Blu Resort. “We’ve always had larger numbers coming in ever since our first marathon in 1986,” he said. “The numbers rose to 1,400 in 2010 and continued to grow with last year’s entry field totalling 2,500. This time we went beyond the 3,000-barrier and we had to turn down a few other applications as we had reached our limit. “This success is the fruit of the hard work put in by the organising committee. Here, I would like to make a special mention of the late John Walsh. “John was the brains behind this increase in popularity. His contribution was key to this success... his...