Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1035530
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 OCTOBER 2018 22 SPORTS MOUNTAIN BIKING Maltese mountain bikers excel in Sicily races MOUNTAIN biking, despite being perceived as a bit of a low-key sport locally, has seen its riders making waves in the international scene, registering some great re- sults despite racing in heav- ily competed fields against some professional riders. This can be seen from the results achieved in the past weeks in the Etna Marathon Tour where Maltese duo Maurice Formosa and Pat- rick Scicluna claimed the Leaders' Jersey and overall title in the Masters 2 Cat- egory. More recently a Maltese contingent competed in the Etna Marathon Mountain Bike Race in Sicily where they joined 307 and 441 rid- ers taking part in the Mara- thon and Granfondo Catego- ries, respectively. In the Marathon race, con- sisting of a 78km race with a vertical gain of 2,900 metres, the Maltese team consisted of Etienne Bonello, Mark Bonnici, Jeffrey Borg, Do- menic Cutajar, Clive Ebejer, Maurice Formosa, Mark Mi- callef, Anton Muscat, Bran- don Sultana, Mark Zammit and Paul Zarb. This year's Marathon was added to the UCI Points Se- ries calendar thus contribut- ing to a superfast start espe- cially in view of the high level of riders taking part. Contrary to previous years, competitors hailed from all over Europe and included those who were also compet- ing in the World Champi- onships the previous week. Needless to say the competi- tive element was far superior. Maurice Formosa contin- ued to show his strength, leading the Maltese delega- tion with a 7th place in his category and clinching an overall 51st place while regis- tering the best time (4 hours 51 minutes 4 seconds) from the Maltese field and placing seventh in his category. Brandon Sultana also gave a fine performance register- ing the second best time (5 hours 1 minute 36 seconds) whilst the evergreen Etienne Bonello clocked the third best time (5 hours, 5 minutes 25 seconds). It was more success for Maltese riders in the Gran- fondo category when Danica Bonello Spiteri came first in the Ladies' Category and Patrick Scicluna took second place in his category. The Granfondo race cov- ered a distance of 45.5 km, with a vertical gain of 1600 metres. Patrick Scicluna performed well once again. The race course is set against the beautiful Etna scenery sur- rounded by the forests in the northern part of Etna. The lava gravel makes it for a more challenging route which was coupled with some damage to the chang- er forcing him to be limited with gear usage. A rough tumble towards the last seven kilometres of the route nearly put paid to his hard work but neverthe- less, Scicluna managed a sec- ond category placing and an overall 30th place in a field of 83 riders. Meanwhile Danica Bonello Spiteri, who is no stranger to tough races and has been an active competitor in the local mountain bike scene reiter- ated that this is no easy race, taking her over three hours to complete a 44km route, which involved 1-600m of climbing, including two 6-km climbs with gradients of 20%. A cautious start strategy, leaving some of the wom- en to shoot ahead of her, worked well as towards the end of the first climb, Bonel- lo Spiteri caught up. It was at 12km from the fin- ish that she realised she was leading. With the final part of the race consisting of a down- hill Bonello Spiteri kept her focus to avoid being caught from behind. Focusing on the route, it was only when she crossed the finish line that Bonello Spiteri took top billing. Apart from winning the race, Bonello Spiteri im- proved her time on the same route from the previous year by 17 minutes. The riders, who are mem- bers of the Malta Mountain Bike Association take part in the regular competitions organised by the Association throughout the year. More information on the Malta Mountain Bike As- sociation can be found on http://www.maltamountain- bike.org.mt/.