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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 SEPTEMBER 2018 22 SPORTS TRIATHLON Graham Borg, Hannah Pace retain Sprint Triathlon Championship titles GRAHAM Borg and Han- nah Pace retained their Sprint Triathlon Champi- onships title this weekend, when both gave noteworthy performances in Salina. The Sprint National Tri- athlon Championships and the last race of the Birkirka- ra St Joseph Triathlon Se- ries were held in near per- fect conditions. With both Borg and Pace returning to short distance racing after having competed in longer distance races, it was going to be an interesting compe- tition, if only to see whether their transition from long distance to short distance would be seamless. The 750-metre swim took place in a calm glassy sea and similar to the previous race saw Bernard Sant first out of the water, followed by Shaun Galea and Gra- ham Borg. Despite a promising start, technical issues forced Sant to retire, leaving the playing field open for a well fought battle between Galea and Borg. Galea, fresh from his win in the last Sprint Tri- athlon Series, was going to go all out in an attempt to secure the title, however Borg, despite having only returned from his Ironman race a few weeks ago, was determined not to give up easily. As the race progressed, Borg widened the gap be- tween him and Galea on the 20km bike segment to give Borg a comfortable gap in the start of the 5km run. With Galea's strong de- termination and run per- formance the gap nar- rowed again with Galea gaining ground on Borg. Yet determination from Borg's side was put into action to see Borg win the Championship title with a thirty-four second advan- tage on Galea. In third place was Kevin Muscat, who has shown considerable improvement in the past races. The fast- est run split of the day was registered by Jesrit Camill- eri. The female segment saw Hannah Pace first female and fourth athlete out of the water to take the lead on the bike segment. Mar- garet Seguna, winner of the previous races was out of the water twenty-seven sec- onds behind Pace to follow her on the bike segment. Despite valiant attempts from Seguna to keep the gap between her and Pace to a bare minimum, in the end Pace upped the speed to gain a 3 minutes 21 sec- onds advantage as she ad- vanced into the run. Pace retained her title for anoth- er consecutive year when she crossed the finish line nearly three minutes ahead of Seguna. Seguna, nevertheless reg- istered the fastest female run split for the day. In third place was Lara Butti- gieg, crossing the line near- ly six minutes after Seguna. Similar to Borg, Pace has just returned to short dis- tance racing after having ran her first Ironman race in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. Pace broke the local na- tional record and won third place in her age group. The race was also the fourth and final race of the Birkirkara St Joseph Sprint Triathlon Series which saw Michael Bongailas and Anjelika Ruggier crowned overall winners of the Se- ries, having garnered the most points based on their participation in all the rac- es of the Series. "This race concludes the Birkirkara St Joseph Sum- mer of Sport, which has been, once again a thor- oughly successful summer. This is thanks to the ath- letes' participation but also the support of the au- thorities who assist us in the organisation of such events" commented Euchar Camilleri, Secretary Gen- eral, Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club. "Nevertheless, we now look forward to the winter season which focuses on athletics event, namely the Eurosport Malta Interna- tional Challenge Marathon in November and the Eu- rosport 5k and 10k Road Races in December". Prizes to the winners of the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series were pre- sented by Club Officials Maria Vella-Galea and Barry Whitmore, whilst National Sprint Triath- lon Series winners were presented trophies by the Malta Triathlon Federation President, Cyprian Dalli. PHOTOS BY MARIA VELLA-GALEA | EMVIGEE PR & MARKETING