Top class athletics meeting in Malta

As much as preparations started soon after our country won the bid to hold this, only the second Team Championships so far, the task gathered pace immediately after the official site visit by members of European Athletics, when, as you may recall, we invited the media to a Press Conference to publicise the event.

The Association is grateful to Malta’s Council for Sport (KMS) for the moral and financial assistance manifested to bring the facility up to scratch.

Moreover, with the Championships covering all the disciplines within athletics, the Association had to ensure that the existing weight-training facility be upgraded, not only through the provision of new equipment, but also by enlarging the premises, resulting in a surface area which is more than twice the original.

For a competition that must ensure fair play and which needs to be conducted in a clean environment, that is, one in which no athlete gains any illicit advantage over other competitors, the Local Organising Committee was duty bound to provide the adequate medical faciltiy.

Towards this end, the rooms at the stadium for use by medical personnel – the clinic and ancillary facility – in which medical officials can carry out duties according to rules set down by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), have had to be refurbished and upgraded. One has to keep in mind that on the frequent occasions that an athlete of an international standing achieves a performance that will rank as a National Record, it is the individual, or rather his or her National body, that more often than not, itself requests validation of fair achievement.

Another requisite for a track to host international competition is the ample layout of the perimeter that encircles the running area. In fact, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) suggested that the outside area along the eight lanes be widened further, in our case by another fifty centimetres, so that the concrete kerb intersecting the tartan track from the grass area is 1.2 metres out from the line marking the width of the eighth running lane. As can be understood, this was another task that would have entailed more expense to the Association, but thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs, through the intervention of the Director General in charge of Works, this work was carried out by the use of personnel and equipment provided by the Ministry.

To satisfy this important requirement desired by European Athletics, actually by everyone, the LOC decided to contract out the compilation of the most vital data to keep everyone abreast of the proceedings throughout the competition. In this way, the start lists, results of each event, standings of the teams at any particular moment, playback of parts of the competition and as much information as possible is going to be made available in real time so that the spectators present and others following the events through television, will be able follow with ease and interest.

Each area of the Marsa stadium shall be controlled by special security arrangements, access to which to be determined by the use of accreditation cards to be worn at all times. The LOC have allocated areas for the general public; another for the use of the athletes and their supporting staff, a special tribune for the press to carry out their duties on the spot, with internet and other communication facilities; a Technical Information Centre which will be supplying information in print form, and of special relevance, a mixed zone in which any accredited member of the media may conduct on the spot interviews.

This is one of the main reasons why Athletics Malta has embarked on the organisation of the European Team Championships. The Maltese National Team will be performing on home ground. This means that although our standards have been set higher than those at the Games for Small Nations, the ability to field athletes in most of the events will ensure that the result will be respectable and that it will do honour to our Island. It will also mean that our future athletes, our promising youngsters, will have goals to aim for in their athletic progress. It will mean that our facilities, which have been upgraded for the event, will be of benefit to them in the near future and beyond. It will mean that the authorities will realise more than ever that a nation’s health depends on its sporting achievements.

Countries like Cyprus, Denmark, Bulgaria and others both to the north as well as to the east of Malta are fielding strong teams with components that have already made a name for themselves on the world stage. This will be another good reason for the Maltese public to view first hand the talents of these fine athletes, certainly an opportunity not to be missed and one that may not occur for some time in the future.