Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/810144
21 Sport TRIATHLON FOOTBALL maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 APRIL 2017 Triathlete Felicienne Mercieca is the Gozitan Sports-Woman Of The Year UP to some years ago, the sports of Triathlon was practically un- heard of on the island of Gozo. Buit the recent and ongoing boom in this endurance sport's popularity spread itself also on our sister island and today the Gozitan Triathlon Community is a small yet very thriving one, with a healthy number of triath- letes who are competing regu- larly in triathlons in Malta and also venturing to the interna- tion races abroad. One of Gozo's finest triath- letes is Felicienne Mercieca, a 27 year old hailing fromm Xagħra, who was chosen as the Gozitan Sports-Woman Of The Year in a ceremony held last weekend by the Gozo Sports Board. Fe- licienne has a rather short yet very intense career in triathlon. She recalls how she started run- ning in 2014, under the guid- ance of her coach, Fabio Spiteri. She trained and competed in a nummber of road-running races and one day she was convinced to spectate at a triathlon race in Malta. She immediately fell in love with the sport and decided, almost on the spare of the mo- ment, to give tri a try. Under the accurate guidance of Spiteri, one of Malta's mmost prolific triathletes himself, Felicienne started to join the pieces togeth- er of the great jigsaw-puzzle that is Triathlon. Training for triath- lon in an island which is only 12 kilometres long is already a huge feat, but she was determined to succeed and to be on the start line of a triathlon in the follow- ing reason. One of the greatest challenges that Felicienne has to face is the swimming sessions as there are presently no pools where to train in Gozo. For this reason, Felicienne has to wake up in the ungodly hours when she has swimming sessions, catch the 5am ferry from Gozo and join her team-mates for the 6am swimming session. After she is ready, she takes the ferry back to Gozo to start her work as a fitness instructor. It was in 2015 that Felicienne had her triathlon debut with a good number of Maltese tri- athlon races. In her first season as a triathlete, Felicienne was already focused to lay strong foundations for her adventures, In fact, during 2016, she suc- cessfully completed the Iron- man 70.3 Triathlons in Buda- pest, Hungary and in Dubai, UAE. Locally, she continued participating in most of the multisport events and she also did the swimming crossing of the Gozo Channel from Ħondoq to Marfa. These achievements lead her to a sting of successed for Mercieca, where she ob- tained third female place over- all in the Malta Triathlon Fed- eration's Triathlete Of The Year Awards in 2016, and which ulti- mately resulted in the award of the Gozitan Sports Woman of the Year last Saturday. As soon as she won this coveted prize, Felicienne expressed her gratitude to all those who help her in her triathlon journey. She thanked her coach, Fabio Spi- teri, her team Athletic Ac, the Malta Triathlon Federation, her friends and training buddies. Moreover, she expressed her thankfullness to all her family and the staff of Kintetika in Go- zo. Her thoughts immediately after recieving her prize were : 'I was left speechless by receiving this award. The sports of Triath- lon is a tough discipline as it re- quires a lot of time to train, hard excercising , loads of motivation and consistency. But ultimately, I am rewarded as, most impor- tantly, triathlon gives you a lot of self satisfaction and makes you grow strong not only physi- cally, but also emotionally and psychologically. I dedicate this award to all those persons who have contributed to the athlete I am today and to the whole local triathlon comunity!'. Felicienne Mercieca Maltese girls beat Kosovo in final match MALTA concluded their 2019 Women's World Cup preliminary round commitments on a high note after beating debutants Ko- sovo 3-1 at the Selman Stermazi Stadium in Tirana. The Maltese girls finished with a total of four points in Group 2 but missed out on qualification to the group phase with Albania claiming top spot after securing a last-gasp 2-1 win over Greece in the other match. Having gained only one point from their opening two matches, Malta were determined to chalk up their first win in their last outing. Mark Gatt's girls established a foothold in the match from the start with Apollon Ladies mid- fielder Rachel Cuschieri breaking the deadlock on 12 minutes. Malta's initial dominance pro- duced a second goal on 27 min- utes thanks to Jade Flask. Nine minutes later, the Maltese girls all but wrapped up their win when captain Dorianne Theuma added a third. After the change of ends, Malta remained the better side and, with a 3-0 cushion, Gatt made two substitutions by the 63rd minute. Emma Xuereb replaced Cuschieri at the start of the second half and Martina Borg then came on for Flask. Kosovo scored a consolation goal 10 minutes from time through Blerta Shala but the brave Mal- tese girls had long secured the three points. In the other Group 2 game on Tuesday, Furtuna Velaj redeemed herself after missing a penalty as her stoppage-time goal gave Alba- nia a 2-1 win over Greece. Albania won the group with seven points, one more than Greece. MALTA: Janice Xuereb, Gabriella Zahra, Ann-Marie Said, Stepha- nia Farrugia, Dorianne Theuma, Ylenia Carabott (85 Kim Parnis), Jade Flask (63 Martina Borg), Sho- na Zammit, Rachel Cuschieri (46 Emma Xuereb), Charlene Zam- mit, Alishia Sultana. KOSOVO: Fiorentina Kolgeci (90 Ilfete Kryeziu), Gentiana Lushtaku, Feride Kastrati, Qen- dresa Bajra (46 Blerina Musa), Blerta Shala, Valentina Limani, Edona Kryeziu, Liridona Syla, Marigona Durguti, Agnesa Rexha, Kaltrina Biqkaj. Referee: Amy Rayner (England)