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Strapped Together, Inspirational Maltese Athlete Tommy Wallbank And Danish Blind Athlete Dominate Sliema Half Marathon

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Running a half-marathon (21.1km) came with a neat twist for endurance athlete Tommy Wallbank, who completed the challenge whilst guiding a blind athlete.

The two finished the La Valette Half Marathon running side-by-side together, clocking a time of 02:03:37, an insane pace considering the challenge.

Wallbank’s partner on the day was Danish runner Jesper Mathiesen, who was restricted to running on a treadmill for the greater part of his preparation, owing to his condition.

But on the day, 17-year-old Wallbank tied himself to Jesper, running the race side-by-side together.

 

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Jesper came to Malta from Denmark last September. Prior to his participation in the event, occasions to run outdoors were few and far between.

When in Malta, he began training with Wallbank’s coach, Fabio Spiteri. And after several weeks’ worth of preparation, the team was able to create one memorable event.

“In training, we would all take it in turns [to guide him],” Wallbank told Lovin Malta. “We would run with him in every session.”

“But together with Coach Fabio, we decided that I was going to guide him for the Corsa. I ran with Jesper a couple of times before race day and we got used to each other.”

“On race day we worked well together. We made a great team,” he added, remarking that no great communication was involved in the operation. Jesper was simply guided by way of a lead that connected the pair.

A notoriously fast runner by nature, Wallbank also cast aside any personal aspirations for a podium finish, because some things are just more important.

So much so, that he took to social media to convey his reasoning

“Even though the competition [element] is important, sport is about bringing people together, and empowering people is the most important thing,” he wrote.

“Being a fast runner does not make anyone superior to a slower runner because at the end of the day we are all runners.”

It was not the first of similar feats accomplished by the young runner.

In August 2021, Wallbank ran 1,000km in honour of his friend, Rebecca Zammit Lupi, who lost her battle against cancer at 15 years of age.

At the time, Tommy ran the distance in a span of 107 runs, gathering no less than €10,000 in donations.

Photo credit: Tommy Wallbank Facebook

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