Malta Marathon Could Be Cancelled Due To Permit Stalemate: ‘We Refuse To Put People’s Lives At Risk!’
The Malta Marathon, currently set for 6th March 2022 has been cast in doubt, with organizers in a stand-off with Malta’s authorities over the issuance of a permit and problems with the proposed route.
Lovin Malta reached out to the Malta Marathon Organising Committee (MMOC) who talked about the two issues preventing the event from taking place.
“The protocol on the website only allows a maximum of 100 people to take part in mass sporting events. Moreover, they would have to set out six at a time. At every thirty seconds,” a spokesperson said.
“This presents a problem, with us having 2,400 people ready to compete, of which 1,200 are coming from abroad!”
The proposal for a permit was issued late last year, through Sport Malta, who allegedly agreed with the proposal, but problems arose when the proposal was taken to the health authorities.
“We received no reply back, even after we reached out to them time and again. We only heard that they were ‘too busy’ through friends who knew persons in the sector.”
“Eventually we received a reply from Sport Malta informing us that they were unable to grant us a permit at that point in time.”
Emails were sent to the health authorities, and even to Prime Minister Robert Abela, by the MMOC as early 18th January 2022, and despite several reminders, no reply was returned.
Organisers of the event also hit an impasse with authorities over the proposed route, which had been used without any difficulty over the past 12 years.
“The route we presented, one that we never had an issue with, was not accepted this year by Transport Malta (TM). In turn, TM proposed a route we had once used in 2008. One which not only created traffic jams, but even endangered runners.”
“We refuse to put people’s lives at risk.”
The route imposed by Transport Malta was, in fact, “deemed unacceptable by Mater Dei Hospital Emergency Department, the Malta Red Cross, and the Malta Traffic Police.”
“In the 37 years of the Malta Marathon’s existence, it is with sadness that this event may not take place for the third time: in 2019 due to inclement weather, in 2021 due to COVID-19 and in 2022 due to government permits.”
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