The idea that set this event going was Jude Zammit's who made the proposal during one of our Sunday runs. It was taken up immediately by around six of us and we realised that we needed to prepare ourselves for the event.

A date was set, 8 June 2008, some of us had to get themselves a bicycle and the result was of a group of 65 Maltese cyclists who travelled to Pozzallo in Sicily by fast ferry and rode the 70km each way between Pozzallo and Siracusa in one day. A good number of these were St. Patrick's members.

Here's a route map (use the controls to zoom and pan):

You'll see a straight line at some point - that's where I left my GPS off! 

It was an early start - we were to meet at the ferry terminal at 5:30 am. The trip to Sicily was rather rough and unfortunately many of the passengers, including our cyclists were sea sick. This didn't detract from their determination to reach the destination. We set out and arrived at Siracusa in time for a small lunch. We had the opportunity to rest for about 90 minutes and set out on the return trip to Pozzallo at 3pm.

The first to arrive at Pozzallo were there at about 6:30pm and more and more cyclists arrived in time for a nice dinner at a restaurant close to the ferry terminal.

It was a tough ride, but we made it. I'm still trying to find a comfortable sitting position, but I'm sure the satisfaction and the memories will last much longer than the soreness!

Many thanks go to Jude Zammit, the organiser to Malta International Airport and to Enervit Sports Drinks for sponsoring t-shirts and energy drinks. Well done everybody - here are some pictures. In the meantime, if you like to share your photos, please send them to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .