Dillon Cassar, Lisa Bezzina struggle in hot and humid half marathon at Mediterranean Games

Dillon Cassar and Lisa Marie Bezzina were in action for Team Malta in the half marathon race at the Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria.

Cassar was in action in the men’s race held at the Stade Complexe Olimpique in Oran which saw the participation of 13 runners.

The race was held in hot and humid conditions that made life difficult for the participants on the day.

Cassar struggled with the condition throughout the race and in the end placed in tenth place in a time of one hour 14 minutes and 41 seconds.

His performance was far off his own national record of 1:06.45 he set at the Berlin Marathon last year.

Moroccan runner Mohcin Outalha took the gold medal when crossing the finish line in one hour four minutes and five seconds. Benjamin Choquert, of France, took silver in 1:04.19 while the bronze medal went to Soufiyan Bouqantar, of Morocco, who clocked a time of 1:04.57.

In the women’s race, Bezzina too found the going tough on Friday.

The veteran Maltese runner ended the race in one hour 28 minutes and two seconds, well off her personal best of 1:18.10.

Italy’s Giovanna Epis took the gold medal in one hour 13 minutes and 47 seconds. Epis finished ahead of Moroccan duo Hanane Qallouj, who took silver in 1:13.53, and Rkia El Moukim who completed the podium in 1:14.05.

On Thursday, Steve Camilleri was in action in the men’s 100 metres heats.

Running in the opening heat, Camilleri crossed the finish line in a time of 11.28 seconds. The heat was won by Italy’s Matteo Melluzzo who clocked 10.36. He was joined in the next round by Spain’s Sergio Lopez Barranco (10.38) and Algeria’s Youcef Sahel (10.42).

On the other hand, Ian Paul Grech was in action in the men’s triple jump. Grech had a best leap of 13.69 metres that placed him ninth overall.

Algeria’s Yasse Mohammed Triki took gold with a best jump of 17.07. Italy’s Tobia Bocchi took silver with 16.93 while third place went to Portuguese Tiago Luos Pereira who had a best jump of 16.90.