I completed this race as a training run & entered it with no ambitions for time just miles in my legs, but as somebody who generally doens't enjoy road marathons I was pleasantly surprised.

The marathon starts 1hr45mins earlier than the half marathon & winds around the countryside below Mdina in ever decreasing circles for the first 25km, before it joins the half marathon route and heads towards the finish in Sliema. The lift provided by joinign the slower half marathon participants is great & this carries you for a further 10km before the fly-overs & heat take their toll.

Much of the first half is on open roads and you have to be aware of the cars who will happily push through the oncoming running regardless of your safety and when running along the main roads only a line of cones separates you from the infamous Maltese drivers.

It provides an opportunity to pass several tourist attractions & treats runners to some beautiful scenery in between the more usual urban sprawls of a city marathon. the A-B route is cumulatively downhill and if you're lucky with the weather this could be a great PB course.