“Shameful, forced state takeover of a classic race that has successfully been organised by competent people for the past 30 years!” another said.

“This is all a move to look good that the marathon was saved,” a man said.

Many are also accusing the government of using the excuse of “raising money for charity for its’ own convenience”, with others also labelling it as a “joke”.

“What a joke. So will TM suddenly make the traffic disappear because they’re the ones organizing it now? Publish your “new” route so we can see what difference there is to that of the Malta Marathon,” one woman said.

“Victor [Calvagna] would have hated this bullshit,” another man said. 

“You can’t be serious. What an absolute joke!” said another man. 

Amid the backlash, Tran|Sport Malta Marathon is also facing boycotting calls from runners.

“Anybody with any sense of principle should boycott this race and donate to Puttinu! Shame on Ian Borg!” one said.

“What about a mass boycott of the “new” government PR event?” another said.

“Transport Malta, a Government entity, teaming up with Sport Malta and Athletics Malta behind the original organisers’ backs and using Puttinu Cares and Dr Calvagna’s memory to score points? Excuse me? Any serious runner should boycott this event. We can still donate to Puttinu Cares, thank you,” one woman said.

“Let’s boycott and we run on our own,” one man suggested. 

Some people even went as far as describing the government’s decisions as being similar to ones taken in countries such as North Korea.

“To be quite honest, I feel like I’m living in North Korea,” one said.

“You’ve turned Malta into a communist country! Shame,” another said.

Malta Marathon organiser Joseph Micallef has also spoken out about the government’s announcement of a replacement memory, simply saying that “the people’s reaction to the announcement says enough”.

Let us know what you think about the Tran|Sport Malta Charity Marathon below!

What do you make of these comments?