The Challenge, or to give it its full name the Malta International Challenge Marathon, took place again in November for the 19th time. The format of this popular running event is very different to that of your typical London or New York marathons. In this race the distance to be covered was split into three more manageable pieces and tackled over consecutive days. It gave runners more chance to see different parts of this remarkable island whilst at the same time making the challenge of running a marathon slightly more accessible.

Each day the participating runners completed a different distance with the three day total adding up to the standard marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards. That made the task of completing the full marathon distance slightly more palatable for less experienced runners but it did mean that people could run faster, as was indicated by the impressive times of the winners.

This year the race was run on the 27th, 28th and Sunday 29th November. Stage 1 started in Mdina, Malta's original capital city and followed a route around and back to the nearby village of Rabat. The second stage followed a route around Birzebbuga in the south eastern corner of Malta. The final leg involved a route across the top of the island from St Paul's Bay back to Valletta.

As a warm up for the main event, many local runners took part in the Zurrieq Half Marathon which was held on roads in the picturesque south west of the island. Two of the island's prominent runners Jonathon Balzan and Carol Walsh took the honours in the male and female races, and both were expected to feature highly in the Challenge event at the end of the November.

For anyone interested in competing in a running event on Malta, the annual Malta Marathon and Half Marathon events take place in early Spring and attract amateur runners from all over Europe. Next year's event will be called the BMW Malta Marathon and will take place on Sunday 28th February.