Forty-eight hours after completing a mammoth 190km run around Malta and Gozo, Claudio Camilleri and Patrick Tabone were still reflecting on the lows – but mostly highs – of their epic achievement.

The two men left Sliema in the dead of night on July 25 and returned 35 hours later, exhausted but elated after having run along the coast of both islands.

The pair were hoping to raise €15,000 to help finance education for migrant youths, but smashed that goal by collecting €40,000.

“We’d like to keep up the momentum and round it up to €50,000 if we can,” Camilleri, a 43-year-old hospitality consultant, said yesterday.

All the funds collected will be used to run an Education Support Programme for refugees, led by NGOs Kopin and Jesuit Refugee Service. 

The two men even found time to be charitable at one of the toughest points of their journey last weekend, when they stopped briefly to rescue a tourist who had got stuck on the side of hill in Gozo.

We ran into a tourist stranded on steep clay hills

“We came across a man who was about 65 and was in distress, crouched on the ground. He was out walking between Ramla Bay and Marsalforn and got stranded on the steep clay hills,” Camilleri said.

“He had managed to climb the clay hill, but was wearing the wrong shoes and couldn’t get down and was afraid.”

The runners paused for 15 minutes to call emergency services before continuing on their way, leaving the man in the care of a fellow runner who had joined them for that leg of the run. He then guided the tourist to safety.

The stop – even though it was brief – was a disruption to the two runners’ carefully planned schedule. 

“Mentally and physically, this last part of Gozo was the lowest point because the heat, the terrain and the elevation all came together at once, so we had to keep moving,” Camilleri recalled.

At around 2am, the runners hit another obstacle after taking a wrong turn.

“We chose a path around Mnajdra and climbed up some steep rocks. But when we got to the top, we realised we’d taken the wrong turn and had to go back down. That was definitely a drain, mentally and physically,” he said.

But despite the minor setbacks, Camilleri says the experience was hugely positive.

“Running the last kilometre with our children was extremely satisfying and an image that will stick in my mind forever.”

You can donate to the cause at  https://www.1run.mt/.