Where did it all begin?

“The Alive foundation has been established since 2013, and its’ goal is to gather funds for cancer research and also research that takes place at the University of Malta. This is the eighth challenge after the last two years were cancelled due to the pandemic,” Caruana told Lovin Malta.

“The gist started from four cyclists with a hobby that wanted to focus this hobby on something positive. By the time it ended up growing, now to around 30-40 cyclists each year,” he said. 

“This is my fourth Alive marathon,” he said. “I am also in the committee and I’ve met people that came to tell me afterwards that the benefits the cyclist takes from doing this challenge are life-changing,” he said.

“It’s life-changing – it’s inspiring for the people, it has also really helped participants, even introverted people, they come out of their shell,” he said. 

“We have gone around many countries, Norway, Poland, Germany, Italy – and this year we decided to do it in Sicily,” he said, explaining that it is simpler even in terms of logistics.

What’s the training like?

With such a great feat ahead, the training regime is quite an intense one, with at least two hours of training having to be done every single day leading up to the challenge.

“We used to do 17 weeks of training before, it mostly depends on the route,” he said.

“This year we are doing it in May because of the heat as well – normally we do it in July. Hopefully, the weather is settled, and at least the pandemic situation has been hassle-free so far,” he explained.

“As for training, we did 11 weeks this time since it’s a relatively easier route. There are intense training for the ones that also do not have enough experience, with a training program together with a fitness instructor,” he explained.

“On Sundays, we have group rides, we meet and have a route planned ahead of us, we do the briefing and have a good training ride together, with Dr Juice providing food and drinks. The Sunday training starts at 7am and until 11am and then we’re done,” Caruana said. 

“The team building begins from Malta – we need to start from here, spending time with the team,” he said.

The Sunday ride typically starts from 50km for the first few weeks, then moves on to 80-100km, and then it goes up to 140km, with the final amount settling at 170km.

This year’s challenge

The challenge starts off on 1st May and will go on for around six days until the 1,000km goal has been reached. It’s a team effort, with the group of cyclists behind divided into five different groups.

“We’ll be catching the 6am catamaran – then once we arrive at 8am, we’ll start immediately,” Caruana said. 

An average of around 150km a day will need to be done in order to reach the 1,000km target. “We will be waking up at 6am every day during the marathon – start our days by having a shower, some breakfast and off we go,” he said.

“We will also be accompanied by two physiotherapists with the whole team, also all voluntary work. No one is paid,” he said, highlighting that everyone involved does it at their own accord.

In total, there are 37 people that will be participating in the marathon – including a group of mountain bikes and a group of motorbikes.

“We owe it to the ones that did it before us, and all the good that has been done – we cannot stop,” Caruana said. 

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