Andrew Cassar Torregiani
The Games for the Small States of Europe are approaching fast and local aspirants are – as usual – working hard towards reaching the set qualifications.
Meanwhile the first event on the programme on the weekend was the 400m hurdles, contested by two Pembroke athletes. The national record holder, Daniel Saliba, produced another remarkable performance as he skimmed over the hurdles in 58.97sec, only 0.01 slower from his recently established national record. Darryl Dapi crossed the finish line in 1:06.99.
Julian Mifsud, the club’s current lead sprinter over the classic 100m, finished the race in fourth position, clocking 11.40 against a head wind. True to the season’s custom he placed third Maltese, behind Luke Bezzina and Rachid Chouhal yet again.
Meantime in the real race for qualification, in the 400m womens’, Charlene Attard continued her progression, recording a new season best of 58.93sec. In the male counterpart event, Samuel Camilleri also clocked a new season best of 52.1sec, albeit hand timed. Another Camilleri, by the name of Luke, clocked a new season best of 53.00sec. The males ranking registered was 4th and 6th respectively.
With a personal best time of 2:12.17 minutes at double the distance, Luke Camilleri finished the 800m race in fourth position as Dorianne Micallef hopped, stepped and jumped a modest 11.59metres.
In the 1,500m race another close race was anticipated and that is what exactly took place. Simon Spiteri is fast winning a reputation for being Mark Herrera’s shadow. Although Pembroke’s Herrera kept a steady pace all around the three laps, Spiteri was continually leading, however Mark, well known for his strong finish, challenged Spiteri in the final 200m and went on to cross the finish line first, clocking a new season best of 4:02.81sec
In the field events, we saw the return of Andrew Cassar Torregiani, this time challenging the vertical jumps record. His performance was one of the highlights of the afternoon, as he cleared the horizontal bar at a height of 1.85m, recording a new personal best in this discipline – with the high jump national record surely within his reach, currently standing at 1.88m.
The Shot put, was another event contested just by Pembroke athletes. Lawrence Ransley, away from the field for a number of weeks, won the event with a throw of 13.54m. David Huskinson, a Master worth his salt, attaining a distance of 7.33m.
That was all for this meeting, and we look forward to see Pembroke athletes improving on their season bests and personal bests in the upcoming important competition, the Clubs’ League.
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