Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/394213
21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2014 TRIATHLON POWERBOAT RACING FOOTBALL The Malta National Triathlon Championships 2014 THE Malta Triathlon Federation will be holding the 26th edition of the Malta National Triathlon Championships this Sunday at 7:45am. The National Championships, sponsored this year by the BBB Bike Parts-Malta and The Cy- clist Bike Shop, will be held on the Standard Distance Triathlon (1.5KM swim, 40KM cycle and 10KM run). An ancillary race on the Sprint Distance (half distanc- es) will be held simultaneously. The venue for the Champion- ships will be a new one, as this will be the first time that the Fed- eration will be holding triathlon racing in Mellieha. The swim- ming part will be held in the Ram- la tal-Bir, overlooking the Gozo Channel. The challenging cycling route will see athletes looping the Armier Road all the way to the chapel at l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha while the run will be held along the rocky beaches of Cirkewwa. In the Male race, Graham Borg and Fabio Spiteri will have to fight hard to bridge the gap on incum- bent National Triathlon Cham- pion Keith Galea who has been undefeated this year in all local Multisport races he took part in. In the Female category, current National Triathlon Champion, Michelle Vella Wood will have to clash with Danica Bonello Spiteri who is passing through a formidable season, with Hannah Pace and Margaret Seguna ready to take every little opportunity to claim their first ever National Triathlon Championship since both are passing through a very good stretch. The Malta Triath- lon Federation will also be host- ing international athletes travel- ling from Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, South Africa and Canada. "The National Triathlon Cham- pionships are traditionally the culmination of the multisport season and a celebration of tria- thlon in Malta. We are delighted to witness a continuous increase in participation and in quality in this Championships and we are certain that the development of triathlon in Malta will continue in the right direction," said Cyprian Dalli, president of the Malta Tria- thlon Federation. The Malta Triathlon Federation expressed its gratitude to the Mel- lieha Local Council and the Malta Police Force for their cooperation, and said that Triq ta' Msid and Triq l-Armier shall be closed to traffic between 8:00 and 10:30am on the day of the competition. More information can be ob- tained on info@triathlonmalta. org and on tel. 79037933. Terracina is crucial for team Chaudron aspirations WILFRED SULTANA IT Takes Two – a most famous phrase with so many connotations related to notorious songs, films and television series but on this occasion the association is to a foremost Event, namely the forthcoming 2014 UIM ClassOne World Powerboat Champi- onship appointment, the second in a three Championship programme, to be held at Terracina, Italy between 17- 19 October. A determining appointment for all 14 teams contesting this year's Worlds being organised by H2O Rac- ing under the auspices of the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM). The revised World Championship events format 'ClassOne' see seven boats in the Class 1 Catamarans and another seven boats in the V1 Mono- hulls running together on a simple mirror-image circuit with separate sets of turn-buoys, Class 1 turning on the outside marks, V1 on the inside. On the first outing of the 2014 Championships – The Mediter- ranean Grand Prix – held in Ibiza Spain between 5-7 September Team Chaudron made an impressive start and now moves on to the next meet- ing as leader of Class One V1. This Class is reserved to prototype racing craft that, with a minimum length of 36ft and maximum of 43ft, using in- board motors only, can reach speeds in excess of 100mph. Undoubtedly Round 2 of these Championship – The Grand Prix of Italy – is crucial for P1-55, the boat flying the Malta flag as a commenda- ble repeat of Round 1 performance to give Team Chaudron valuable points to go to the final round of these Worlds – The U.A.E. Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi – with great confidence. Abu Dhabi hosts Round 3 on 29/30 November. "The UIM ClassOne World Pow- erboat Championship is definitely the pinnacle of international offshore powerboat racing. Dominique and I are combining well and P1-55 is per- forming magnificently. Yet we are in competition with the best, whether it is crews or boats", remarked Aaron Ciantar. In the canopy cockpit of the 41- footer P1-55, Team Chaudron is made up of Aaron Ciantar in his traditional driver's role with French man Dominique Martini featuring as throttle-man. Aaron has won three World Cham- pionships on Chaudron boats, two in Europe - UIM Powerboat P1 World Championship 2008 and 2009 - and one in America - 31st Key West (USA) World Championship 2011. Furthermore Chaudron boats also featured as World Champions in the UIM Powerboat P1 World Champi- onship 2007 and the 31st Key West (USA) World Championship 2011. Here the owners and crew of the win- ning boats were Italian and Ukrain- ians respectively. The UIM ClassOne World Power- boat Championship is a dynamic and spectacular event with an exception- al promotion value through its global TV exposure. Televised by a number of high-profile broadcasters the like of CANEL+ (France), SKY (UK), VIASET (Scandinavia), CNTV (Chi- na), ABU DHABI TV (Middle East) and others which reach millions of households with all the excitement, passion, charm and prestige of the event, teams, host destinations and all involved experiences provided through their involvement in these Championships. All eyes will now be on the Italian town of Terracina where it will be happening and on Team Chaudron who will endeavour to 'Take Two' and make it happen - again. Ibiza gave Team Chaudron 'The Mediterranean Grand Prix' - a proud moment to celebrate for Maltese driver Aaron Ciantar and French throttle-man Dominique Martini. Keane 'snubbed seven jersey offer' ROY Keane has claimed in his updated autobiography that Sir Alex Ferguson tried to persuade him to wear number seven at Man- chester United to pre- vent the iconic shirt going to David Beck- ham. Beckham famously wore the number dur- ing his 10 and a half years at Old Trafford, following in the foot- steps of other renowned United players like Eric Cantona, Bryan Rob- son and George Best. In The Second Half, Keane describes how Ferguson tried to block Beckham taking number seven after Cantona had left the club in 1997. "At United, '7' was the iconic number," Keane wrote. "When Eric Cantona left there was debate about who was going to be the next cap- tain. I was quite relaxed about it. But there was his number, too - '7'. "Bryan Robson had had it before Cantona and, of course, it went back to Georgie Best. "The manager pulled me into his office and said that he wanted me to wear the '7'. "I said, 'No, I'm not bothered.' And he said, 'I know Becks will f**** want it and I don't want him to have it'." Meanwhile, the official launch for The Second Half is set to go ahead on Thursday as originally planned despite copies of the book having accidentally been put on sale al- ready this week. Supermarket chain Tesco has apologised and launched an inves- tigation after one of its stores in Burnage, Manchester committed a blunder by putting the book on its shelves on Monday - three days ear- lier than the scheduled release date. National newspapers subsequently published extracts, which revealed details about the former Manches- ter United captain's shock exit from the club and a drink-fuelled fight with his former team-mate Peter Schmeichel. The plan for Thursday's official launch had included Keane taking part in a promotional press con- ference that afternoon at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. And the book's publishers Wei- denfeld & Nicolson confirmed on Tuesday that the event with the 43-year-old Republic of Ireland and Aston Villa assistant boss will still be happening. A spokesperson for the publish- ers told Press Association Sport: "It wasn't part of our plan obviously (for details of the book to be in the public domain before Thursday). "But we are adapting to the situa- tion and carrying on with the press conference because people will still want to speak to Roy himself." The spokesperson said the pub- lishers were unable to comment on the possibility of Weidenfeld & Nicolson taking legal action against Tesco, but added: "We have been in touch with Tesco and they have apologised and withdrawn any stock that was mistakenly put out." Roy Keane's autobiography is out on Thursday