Malta Marathon and Half Marathon Route Description

Due to unpredicted and urgent roadworks there has been a slight change to the Full Marathon route in the Ta' Qali area.

At 6.4km, just after exiting from the road by the National football stadium, instead of going straight, the route will turn left into an open air carpark. It will go up to the end of the carpark and down again from the adjacent road to continue on the original route.

This distance has been added to compensate for the detour that has to be taken in relation to the road works.

Upon reaching the Model Aicraft Runway, the route will not keep on going straight but will turn right into the old 2nd world war runway and into the BOV Adventure Park service road. This part will now be covered twice as on returning back into Ta' Qali at about 21 Km, the route passes again from this road, as originally planned.

The route will be well marked with yellow arrows and there will be marshals guiding the participants.

The route map has not been updated with the change.

The change to the route has been accurately measured using the Jones Counter.

A few changes to the 2020 Malta Marathon and Half Marathon have been made to the routes that have been used over the past 5 years. The major change to both routes is in Mriehel, 29th km to 32nd km for the Full Marathon and 8th km to the 11th km for the Half Marathon. The routes will no longer pass through the Mriehel Industrial Estate but will follow the old aqueducts all the way to Fleur De Lys and turn back at that point to the Mriehel bypass.

This change brought about an increase in the distance to the previous routes. The increase in the distance was rectified by some changes in Attard and Mosta for the Full Marathon and within the first 4 km of the Half Marathon.

Both routes have been measured using the calibrated wheel method (Jones Counter), the only method recognised by the World Athletics.

You can see the entire 2023 routes on the map attached to this page.

Although not traffic free, the numerous traffic officers manning every key junction, enables participants to run or walk their event with little traffic around them for motst of the time. Over the years changes to the route have been made to avoid areas notable for traffic congestion. There are still minor adjustments that can be implemented to the way traffic is managed during the event, with the usual cooperation given by the Police and Transport Malta, these adjustments could ease the traffic congestion that motorists face at particular junctions.

The Full Marathon which starts at 0700 from outside the bastions of Malta’s old capital Mdina, heads through the main road of Rabat, down through Nigret and onto the Mtarfa bypass to get to 5k in Ta’Qali.

The route will take the athletes round Ta’ Qali and exits Ta' Qali at 10k, down to Attard to 11k, through Mosta and it's outsirts 13k to 21k, back into Ta' Qali, round Ta’ Qali again till 24k and back again on to the main road which will take the participants down again to Attard but this time right through the centre of the village 26k to 28k.

The route from the 29th km to the 32nd km will follow the old aqueducts from Mriehel to Birkirkara and back to the Mriehel bypass.

From the Mriehel bypass, the route continues on to the Hamrun/Marsa bypass and goes down on to Triq Dicembru 13 and then on to Blata L-Bajda. The last 5km of the route passes along the Sa’ Maison, Pieta, Msida, Ta’ Xbiex and Gzira waterfronts up to the finish in Sliema.

The Half Marathon and 'Endo' Walkathon also start from outside Mdina but at 0815 and will head straight towards the Roman Villa and down a steep downhill to go past the old railway station, on to the Mtarfa bypass and down to the Military cemetry. From here the route goes straight on to the Rabat/Attard Road. The route will from there (3.5km), head for Attard and will join the Full Marathon till the finish.

A 2.5 metre lane along most of the roads from the 32nd Km to the 40th Km of the Full Marathon (10th Km to the 19th Km of the Half Marathon), will be cordoned off with traffic cones for runners.

Both the Marathon and Half Marathon routes are predominantly downhill, with the start being at 200metres and the finish at sea level. Whereas the Half Marathon heads directly to the finish from the start, the Marathon deviates from this direction with a small loop within Ta’ Qali (6th to 10th Km), followed by a larger loop from the 11th Km to the 25th km, that takes the athletes from Attard, through Mosta, Attard again and back to Ta’ Qali.

Marathon

Start - 5km. Mdina – Rabat – Nigret – Mtarfa – Ta’ Qali.

6km – 10km. Ta’ Qali loop going by the National Stadium, Pitkali vegetable market and the new American embassy – Attard

11km – 25km, Attard – Mosta – Ta’ Qali- BOV Park, National Stadium and American embassy.

26km – 42km. Attard - Mriehel - Fleur De Lys - Mriehel bypass - Hamrun/Marsa bypass – Marsa - Blata L-Bajda - Sa’ Maison – Pieta – Msida - Ta’ Xbiex – Gzira – Sliema - Finish.

Half Marathon

Start - 4km. Mdina – Mtarfa Bypass – Ta' Qali.

5km – 21km. Attard - Mriehel - Fleur De Lys - Mriehel bypass - Hamrun/Marsa bypass – Marsa - Blata L-Bajda - Sa’ Maison – Pieta – Msida - Ta’ Xbiex – Gzira – Sliema - Finish.