Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/820803
maltatoday SUNDAY, 7 MAY 2017 Sport 56 ATHLETICS Birkirkara St. Joseph Triathlete Keith Galea rakes in another title EASTER Saturday saw current National Duathlon Champion Keith Galea rake another title to win the Mellieha AC Sprint Du- athlon. Held in Dingli, the race consisted of a 5km run, a 20km cycle followed by a 2.5km run. Despite having fought persistent illness for the past weeks, Galea set himself a slower pace in the initial 5km run which saw Span- ish triathlete Andres Bernal first into transition. Barnal was closely followed by Pembroke Athleta duo David Agius Lia and Shaun Galea. Keith Galea entered transition in fourth place a few seconds later. The Birkirkara St. Joseph triath- lete paced himself well in the bike segment becoming leader of the pack in the fifth kilometre. Keep- ing up the pace was Shaun Galea, who followed him until the last hill when Keith Galea threw in his attack opening a gap which Shaun Galea struggled to keep up with. The attack continued, giving Keith Galea a 20-second advan- tage into transition. Giving all he had left in the 2.5km run, Keith Galea increased his lead to win his third race of the season in a time of 1 hour 29 seconds. Shaun Galea, nevertheless gave a very fine performance to cross the fin- ish line in second place in a time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 9 seconds, whilst James Cuschieri finished third in 1 hour, 1 minute and 55 seconds. The Females' Category was won by Hannah Pace (1:06:58), followed by Margaret Seguna (01:08:44) and relative newcomer Celine Pace (01:12:47) Keith Galea, trains under the Flexi Training Scheme and under the guidance of coaches Dermot Galea and Ivan Rozhnov. He is grateful for the support provided by his club Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club, Malta Triathlon Federation, the Maltese Olympic Committee, SportMalta as well as Garmin Malta, BBB Cycling Mal- ta, Jaycee Malta, Team Barry Mal- ta Challenge Marathon, DGtri. com, Scott bikes, Saracino Cafe, emvigee pr & marketing, Starbene 24/7, Lucida Laundry. Trinacria win sets pace for Spiteri's Triathlon Season Registers overall win, preparation for Double Ironman in June A Maltese delegation in Sicily showed the mettle Mal- tese triathletes are made of when some fine results were produced at the Trinacria middle distance triathlon in Sicily. Although the two hundred twenty participating ath- letes had to contend with a rough swell, Spiteri managed to keep a good pace to exit in twentieth place straight into transition for the bike segment. Spiteri had to work hard to get into the front pack and reducing the gap be- tween the other competitors. Spiteri managed to start the half marathon in second place, with a three-minute gap between him and the first placed athlete and a min- ute gap between him and the third athlete. Pacing him- self well, Spiteri built up the tempo to register his fastest 21km – 1 hour 24 minutes, in a middle distance triath- lon race to cross the finish line first and finishing the race in a time of 4 hours and 13 mins. "I was very determined to do well in this race as I feel it would set the pace for the season which this year is a particularly special one for me given that I will be at- tempting my first double Ironman race (7.6km swim, 360km cycle, 84km run) in Emsdetten, Germany in June. Prior to that I will be racing in Port Macquarie in Aus- tralia" remarked Spiteri after the race. "Apart from the great support from other Maltese athletes present for the race, I am particularly grateful towards my sponsors – Garmin Malta, Go&Fun, Wheel Wizard, 24/7 Fitness Gym, Festina Watches, Special Eyes and Mochika". Other Maltese athletes registering notable performances were: - Isabelle Caruana – 2nd Female – (Overall) Joseph Galea – 1st Male (25 - 29 category) Andre Cutajar - 3rd Male - (25 - 29 category) Karen Amato – 1st Female – (Over 40 category) David Galea – 1st Male – (Over 40 category)