Stories from the aftermath of last weekends’ storm that battered the Maltese Islands continue to surface.

The latest news is that groups of runners who had trained to compete in Sunday’s cancelled marathon organised races of their own. One group, calling themselves MMM (Malta Monday Marathon), scrambled together on social media and arranged an event in Sliema just hours after they heard the race in Mdina was off.

Impromptu marathon

The group, featuring more than 20 nationalities including Nigerian, Portuguese, British, French and Maltese, set off at 8am to pound the path together. They ran 42km along the Sliema waterfront to Valletta and back twice, making up the marathon distance. Among them was 44-year-old Natalie Briffa Farrugia, who had been training for her third marathon for months.

“It was very disheartening when we got the news on Saturday night. I was looking on Facebook and could see all the comments being posted by people who were also disappointed. Then, one man said ‘why don’t we do it anyway?’ So, he set up a personal marathon Facebook page and around 20 people added themselves as members. From there, were agreed on a starting time and the route, and all met on Monday morning.

But the groups challenge wasn’t over. “The route we chose was badly damaged in the storm, so we had to jump over obstacles like glass and trees that had fallen, as well as wooden pieces of the huts that are used to sell tours on the waterfront that had broken off.” But despite all of the mental and physical hurdles, Natalie says the impromptu run was a wonderful experience.

A fantastic feeling

“It was a beautiful morning and the atmosphere was amazing. I was the only Maltese person in our group, but other people had organised their own races or just chose to run alone. For example, one group of runners headed out at 6.30am because they had to catch flights to places like Australia. Those who don’t live in Malta were allowed to pick up their medals on Sunday afternoon, but those of us living here have to wait until next Saturday, so when I finished my race a man offered me a medal so I could take a photo with it. He was 74 and had had a hip replacement last year, and he still came out on Monday morning to run a half marathon. It’s truly inspirational!

 “I understand people’s need to race. If you’ve training and have eaten carbohydrates for weeks you need to burn off that energy. Someone told me that the gyms around Malta were packed on Sunday afternoon!”

The decision to cancel Sunday’s marathon impacted more than 4,000 people. Organisers of the event confirmed to us on Monday that rescheduling would be “logistically impossible", with Chairman of the Race Committee Joe Micallef saying, “it takes a year of preparation to get an event like this together. Besides, this event requires a permit from the Malta Amateur Athletic Association. The calendar is full of other races with one being held every weekend and the MAAA will not issue a permit for 2 races on the same weekend.”

Natalie says that while some people voiced their anger on social media about this decision, she doesn’t feel the same: “The people that are angry will probably keep on being angry, but I think we worked through this because we completed a race together.”

Good on you guys!