pickupthepacepaul

On 22nd February 2026 I took part in the Malta Marathon. This was my 4th Marathon of 2026, my 182nd Marathon (plus) and my 135th time as an official pacer (including 72 marathons). This was a family adventure, so we went out as a family on Thursday, staying for 3 nights, returning on Sunday after the marathon.

We had a smooth trip to Malta, and exiting the airport was quick. We walked out straight into a taxi for 20 euros, which was a 15 minute journey 20 Sliema. We stayed at “AX the Palace” which was one of the marathon featured hotels. Our family room was spacious and impressive. Arriving around 17:00 we decided to stay in the hotel, and made our way to the top floor to check out the outside pool with an infinity side overlooking Malta. Whilst the kids swam, we started with happy hour cocktails.

We decided to stay for a meal in this restaurant which had a deal for Chinese New Year. Kirsty and I had a 5 course meal, and we got the kids some al a carte. The food was just amazing, and although a little more expensive than what we would usually go for, it was perfect and there was so much food.

They even gave us a 6th course to start whilst we waited.

On Friday we had a rest and got up a little later. We made our way to the waterfront for breakfast. Afterwards we made our way to Valetta for the day, via the ferry.

Valetta was a beautiful city. We spent time walking around enjoying the buildings, the steep and narrow roads, with shops and restaurants. We found a place called “Piadina” that I highly recommend.

We had various spritz and on their menu they have sandwiches. For a couple euro more we made it into the best pizzas.

We returned back to Sliema for registration, and to be honest, I was not impressed. People queued for over an hour to get into a hall and it was a single line to collect bib and then t-shirt. There was no need for such a queue, and should have been quick and straightforward. It was a large space so a little more organisation could have reduced the wait times significantly.

We want back to the hotel and enjoyed time in our pool. Later we went out locally for some food and more cocktails.

The next morning we went on a 7 hour boat trip. It was great value and such fun. We went to Camino Island, Blue Lagoon, Gozo and one of our highlights was cocktails out of pineapples (top tip, keep the pineapple for a refill for half price cocktails).

We had a chilled evening and got a takeaway pizza. I laid out my kit out and have to look up split times, as I had expected to be pacing 4 hours, but at registration I was told I had been moved to 4:15. Nice to test out my mental arithmetic.

Malta Marathon 2026

With a 06:45 start and a point to point race, it was an early start. I made my way to get on a coach from the finish at 05:20. The coach was simple and straightforward. Until we arrived. It was dark and we were dropped off a few minutes walk away from the start. There were no signs or organisation to get to the start. I just followed those in front of me and hoped for the best.

It was beautiful watching the sun rise. I waited around at the start as we were early. I was one of the first to use the toilets, and there were many toilets. Unfortunately no-one had put out toilet roll in any of the toilets. Then we made our way to the start line, but the timing mat was only being laid out 10 minutes before. There was an arch to the side but it had not been inflated. The event started bang on time though, which was great.

I started with a large group of runners, and pleased to see a number hit their target. Overall I really enjoyed the event. It is a net downhill race, with a lot of ups and downs. It was a little quiet in places, but towards the end it got much more energetic.

One thing I would say as a positive is there were markers every KM, and they were perfect. I was impressed with the markers.

I started with 2 other pacers, but paced alone. I wouldn’t usually criticise other pacers and we are all human, but I wasn’t impressed. The start was downhill and it is easy to get carried away. After 1km the other pacers were already 30 seconds ahead of me. I was ahead of pace, and running slightly faster than I would like to try and keep together, but the gap kept growing. One of the pacers came back to ask me to hurry up before heading off again. After about half way there was an out and back, and I made a note of where the pacers passed. At this stage I was 35 seconds ahead of schedule and the other pacers were over 4 minutes ahead of me. Around 5 minutes ahead of pace at half way is simply not acceptable. We can all struggle, and I’ve heard of pacers racing off, but I have never seen anything like it. At 30km I saw one of them sat at the side of the road and didn’t see the other again.

I picked up new runners as each KM passed, and was able to motivate and have good conversations throughout. This is where the good markers really make a difference. I held a 30 second cushion until about 40km and then encouraged others ahead of me.

I took the last couple of km in my stride, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and the views of Valetta across the water.

My official time was 04:14:52, with happy smiles and PB at the end.

We finished our holiday with more cocktails and the beautiful sun. Ironically after a couple of windy days, my kids thought it was too hot. A 1700 flight home got everyone back in time for work and school the next day.