Pembroke Athleta FeXco Meet: Record Hopes

Apart from road races (which never seem to cease), this is a quite time for athletics. Most athletes will be using this time to build up their strength and stamina for the upcoming season with some hard sessions but competition wise you'd be hard pressed to come across anything wherever in the world you look.

Yet Pembroke Athleta's FeXco - Western Union Track & Field Invitation Meeting is one exception. There is however a specific reason behind the meet that will be held tomorrow for the 13th year running with new sponsors (FeXco) and an expected entry of more than 100.

"It may sound strange to hold an event off-season," Tony Fava of Pembroke Athleta explains. "However the aim is that any young athletes who are changing categories can have their last shot at breaking the national record of their category."

Currently, categories are determined according to the age of the athlete at the start of the calendar year. However, this might chang in the future given that the IAAF is debating whether to alter the rule whereby the category is determined according to the age of the athlete on the day of the meet.

"There is a debate," Fava acknowledges, "but for now we're sticking to the old formula."

The prospects that Athleta's aim - that of encouraging new national bests – is met in this year's edition certainly seems strong. "There are certain athletes who are aspiring to do a good time. In the 300m there are a number of youths and cadets such as Stephen Camilleri. We were hoping that we get a record in the boys and girls youths 4 x 100 relays but the absence of a key member in the boys' team has reduced that chance. Nevertheless, the girls team formed Tamara Vella, Julie Ann Grech, Rebecca Farrugia and Jana Pace Cocks are in with a chance."

"In the 1,200m Christian Luke Chetcuti (Allcomers) has a good chance of improving his record as has Robert Zammit of Savio College. Daniel Vella of Allcomers, has a good chance in the shot in the cadets."

For the older athletes this motivation doesn’t hold yet even so a good turnout of athletes is expected. “We’re expecting a good number of athletes who use this as preparation for the indoor season. There might be a couple of athletes missing but most will take part. Someone to look out for is Mark Herrera who will be taking part in the 400m since he will be focusing on the shorter distances.”

This year’s meet will feature a number of innovations such as an 800m walk – “there’s a good group of athletes under the guidance of Mario Pisani” – as well as a mile race.

“In view of the formation of the Milers Club, which is intended to raise the level of long distance running, we’re going for a mile race rather than the 3,000m. There is already a good entry and it has been a long time since it was held in Malta. We feel that this should eventually lead to the steeplechase where again there is the promising Chris Vassallo trained by Mario Pisani.”
Other events will, however, be missing. “There will be no hurdles. First of all you need a good number of officials to set up and secondly it isn't the season for it. However, the hurlders can take part in the sprints.”

“Also, the state of the sandpits means that we cannot use them. It is unfortunate because we have some good jumpers at the moment.”

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The Need to Plan for Success

In the latest of his excellent weekly articles on the Times of Malta (The Serach for Champions), John Walsh opted to discuss the lack of progress – and effectively a regression – in local long distance running. To back up his argument he pointed out that back in 1986 two out of 67 athletes were capable of times in the 2:27 to 2:32 bracket whereas only one managed that in the last Malta Marathon despite a massive increase in the number of Maltese taking part in the marathon.

Disappointing as this might sound, it is not a unique case. Indeed, Walsh points out that a similar trend has been observed both in the United States of America and in England, despite the growing popularity of running in both countries.

This is true enough: for years America and European countries sat back and accepted African dominance in long distance running as a matter of fact. Their upbringing in high altitude and social conditioning from an early age gears these East African athletes for long distance running giving them an unbeatable advantage. At least, that was the popular belief.

Slowly, however, there has been an attitude shift. In America, progress might not be immediately apparent but it is there. Kara Goucher won a bronze in the 10,000m in the latest World Championships whilst earlier this year young hope Ryan Hall ran a record American marathon debut of 2:08:24.

Such progress has not been casual but merely the fruit of a number of privately funded experiments. One of the most high-profile has been Nike’s Oregon Project – which includes both Kara and Adam Goucher – where all those in it live in specially built houses that simulate high altitude conditions.

More accessible is the Hanson-Brooks project where some of the underlying beliefs might be controversial but, again, results have been forthcoming. This project includes simply getting together a group of athletes with bests that fall within a specified range and then having them train together, the core principle being on training together rather than in high altitude. The argument is that if you get together a group of reasonably talented individuals and get them to train together, the likelihood that most of them show a significant improvement is increased.

Results have been impressive as athletes from this group made up to a tenth of the total at the American trials for the Olympics and one of these, Bryan Sell (pictured) – up till then considered a journeyman athlete - managed to grab third place.

Malta: Need For A Long Term View
Walsh’s is not an argument that would have found too many opponents locally given that it reflect the mood within the long distance fraternity in Malta. Athletics Malta have been trying to take some steps to rectify this – the recent visit of reknown coach Peter Thompson was an example – yet this was seen as being too little to make a difference.

That is true enough, for what is really needed is a strategy on how to improve long distance running.

In my view, a definite must is the establishment of a national squad where athletes train as regularly together as possible. This would not be easy – coaches and clubs tend to get edgy when this happens because of a fear of tapping up– but given the results of the Hanson Brooks project as well as the fact that most Kenyan athletes train together the benefits are obvious.

Nor should this squad be made up exclusively of the current top athletes but should also include some who reach a good standard: athletes with the potential to really get better with good help.

Jonathan Balzan’s example is typical. A good natural athlete, he had initially been self trained and results showed. As soon as he teamed up with a good coach, he immediately shot to the top of the sport. He was part of that widening pyramid base that Walsh referred to, yet no one had picked him up. Had he been left at his own devices it would have been another case of potential gone napping.

Inclusion of such athletes is a must because these are the ones who must fulfill expectations or achieving targets. And the latter is also of fundamental importance. Unless the athletes know where they have to get to, they will not work towards achieving that aim but perhaps aim to meet their own limited expectations.

One way of achieving this is to offer those same athletes the possibility of competing abroad. This might or might not be major championships – given the fear of doing too badly there – but there are plenty of good running opportunities in other road races or marathons.

Indeed, most athletes I talk to simply do not register making it to the Small Nations Games because they feel that the qualification standards are too tough.

Again this necessitates a long term view. By all means stick to those qualification standards but rather than hope that someone manages such times set them as an objective to be achieved in three or five years time.

In between identify some good 5,000 and 10,000m races abroad and set tough but achievable qualification standards. If slightly steeper times are set over the course of a number of years then the level of long distance running will slowly improve.

All on Athletics Malta’s Shoulders?
Should all of this be the remit of Athletics Malta? Setting a strategy for long distance running most certainly is but it is the clubs who have to help in implementing it.

How many clubs, for instance, bother to contact any unregistered athletes who take part in their road races? Apart from making financial sense in that these might boost membership, one of these could have the latent talent of Jonathan Balzan which could blossom if put in the right environment.

Nor have I seen any clubs – or the Malta Marathon for the matter - offering their athletes the possibility of competing abroad. With the advent of low cost airlines, this shouldn’t be impossible to establish. Perhaps a joint project with a foreign race where their organisers agree to offer lodging for a number of local athletes given the promise to return the favour when the local road race comes about. Who knows, there might even be the possibility for EU funding. The thing is: no one has really bothered to investigate the possibilities.

And that is the biggest failing of local long distance running. Things have been in a status quo for such a long time that they are taken as a given. Unless someone decides to kick start long distance running a kick start then people like John Walsh and myself will keep on writing how the increasing base of local long distance running isn’t churning out any top level athletes.

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Athletix Project To Offer New Opportunities

Athletics is a global sport largely because it is so simple to practice. In it’s most basic form, all that is needed is a good running shoes and not even that is a necessity.

Yet, despite this supposed simplicity, you will come across areas where athletics struggles to gain a footing. There’s no need to search too far to realise this, just look at Gozo where the only instance where athletics make an appearance is during the annual long distance races held there.

It is why Mario Bonello’s decision to set up an athletics school in Gozo was particularly timely.

“My wife's family is Gozitan and I have long wanted to start off something on this magnificent Island,” he said, explaining the birth of Athletix. “In theory, given the same opportunities, Gozo should field one in every 10-12 athletes on any National team. The reality is very remote.”

“There are very little opportunities for the Gozitan youths and this is probably brought about by the lack of facilities available. I hope that maybe this school might eventually trigger off the construction of an athletics track in Gozo! That would bring about a great opportunity to all those who want to start practicing athletics.”

Bonello clearly can see big opportunities for athletics in Gozo. “If facilities are available then I also see Gozo exploiting sports tourism. Gozo is fantastic especially in winter and what better place can Europeans ask for, for warm weather training during their freezing winters? That could really be one of the niche touristic areas that Gozo should be trying to exploit.”

Yet that lies in the future, for now he is focusing on developing the athletes. “The aim of the school is to provide an opportunity to the children that was non existent before. Our school was founded with the following objectives towards its students: to develop their physical structure; to develop their character in terms of commitment, dedication and self confidence, to enhance the spirit of healthy competition and to provide an alternative to bad habits and bad friendships.”

“From this base of commitment towards our students we will surely get some that will also excel in terms of performances. That will come later and we have no real hurry.”

“I have to say that the response is very encouraging and exceeds our expectations. Indeed new students are being enrolled every week. Students and their parents are realizing the benefits that would accrue from participating in the courses and events organized by our school.”

So far most of the work has been focusing on laying the foundations. “Our main response to date has come from the age 8 to 12. We need to build up a stronger group from the ages 13 and up. The training for both groups is rather different. With the younger group we have more fun games that introduce new skills related to the sport. With the older group we organize practice in a more structured way. We want to create the base before building up further.”

“We have distributed flyers to all the children between the ages of 8 to 16 in all the Gozitan schools.”

As the project grows and the athletes develop, questions will have to be asked as to what will happen to them. Since there is no athletics club in Gozo, there is the risk that they will feel alienated once they move out of Athletix’s age range. It is this fear that has set Bonello thinking about the feasibility of developing it into a fully fledged club.

“It was not our original intention, but I guess in order to get our kids to compete we will probably have to. I have never considered forming a club as I feel that there are enough of them around. But in Gozo there aren’t any so I guess it is only fair to set one up in order to give our kids an identity.”

“Not having a track is a drawback”
Those same kids recently took part Athletics Malta’s miniathlon and in the process experienced for the first time running on an artificial track. “We are really pleased to have made history by entering a large group of kids for the miniathlon. It was an experience for the whole group as all of them were stepping on a synthetic track for the first time. Thanks to that, we are really pleased that the Athletics Malta has already aired their wish to hold one of the upcoming Miniathlon events in Gozo.”

“Not having a track is a drawback but through our commitment I am sure we can find ways around things.”

So far that solution has come from the ever enterprising Nadur Local Council. “We have been very lucky to find the support of the Nadur Local Council in this venture. They have been extremely supportive in providing us with the facilities, and other needs for our students. We are at present using the recently refurbished Nadur Football ground as our training base and the Nadur primary school in case of adverse weather. The students come from all over the island (and we have even some coming from Malta!), and they turn up even in the worst weather conditions. A real well done to all of them.”

First Step in a New Career
Recently, Mario was part of the group of coaches who took part in the IAAF Level I coaching course organized by Athletics Malta. “? I have been very lucky in my career to have been coached by some of the best coaches in Europe, and beyond. One of them is now head coach of the Italian National Team, another is his assistant, and Donato Sabia who was coaching me here in Malta for 3 years was one of the best athletes in the world.”

“That has naturally given me a lot of experience and I have started to share that quite some time ago, most notably coaching Deirdre Farrugia to new National Records, and Karl Farrugia to some very good results in the 400m. I felt that now was the time to get the necessary qualifications to develop further.”

“I also convinced my partner in Athleix, the Gozitan Paul Camilleri, to take up the course so that we could start off this school. He did, and that is how Athletix took off. Our next step is now to take up the next Level in the IAAF coaching structure.”

His vast experience in athletics will surely be a huge asset, especially when it comes to dealing with athletes and their emotions. In this sens, what would he say to a young Mario Bonello?

“First of all I would tell him to take it one step at a time and not to rush to get results. However, he must be committed and consistent. He must make sure that he gets the best coaching he can get, from as early in his carrier as possible. Finally, he must believe in himself and his dreams.”

“I would also tell him that with good time management he would be able to succeed in both school and sport. I myself can be an example. I studied hard enough to become an architect and trained hard enough to become an athlete, both at the same time. Indeed our school endeavors to give its students the opportunity to have a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

Despite the recent ventures, Bonello still hasn’t called time on his competitive career. “Surprise, surprise, I am still training. However, I am very much experimenting with my training and myself. No decision yet as to whether I will compete or not. I guess it will all depend on my performances in training. However, I am really having fun and enjoying what I am doing.”

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Cilia Comes Out On Top

Charles Cilia won the second leg of Malta Athletics’ Road Running League to move to the top of the standings. Brian Magri, the Malta International Challenge Marathon winner was second just two seconds behind Cilia with Jonathan Balzan third.

In the women’s category it was Carol Walsh who unsurprisingly came out top followed by the promising Joelle Cortis who just edged out Carmen Hili.

Full report will follow but results can be found here.

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