Bold effort not enough for Maltese

Maria Mifsud Bonnici broke her own national record in last Sunday`s triathlon championships for Europe`s Small States, held at the Bahar ic-Caghaq coastline.

Mifsud Bonnici`s time was more than two minutes faster than her previous best mark while Dermot Galea went on to register the best time ever achieved by a local triathlete over the same distance.

Remarkable achievements indeed. However, despite this commendable effort, it was not enough for the two Malta champions to win the international race. Luxembourg, yet again, have shown that their depth-in-quality cannot be, at least in the foreseeable future, matched by their counterparts from Europe`s smaller nations.

Twenty-eight triathletes from Luxembourg, Monaco, Cyprus and Malta took to the cool and calm waters of Salina Bay at the start of the 1,500m swim.

Seventeen minutes later it was the Cypriot duo of Christos Theodourou and Soteris Nicolaou who emerged out of the water first. They were followed, 10 seconds later, by Monaco`s Bruno Fiore and Galea.

Jackie Komes (Luxembourg) covered the distance in 17:46, 150 seconds ahead of Mifsud Bonnici. The gap proved to be the determining factor in the outcome of the women`s event. In third place was Marylynn Bezzina, who was closely followed by Debbie Micallef Eynaud and Andrea Marechal from Monaco.

Out on the 40km cycle, it was local veteran Nicky Farrugia who powered his way to the front and stayed there throughout the segment, achieving a time of 62:49.

Tom Carier, the eventual race winner from Luxembourg, had emerged fifth from the water. He stationed himself 10 metres behind Farrugia while Galea, not having the best cycle ride of his life, dropped to third position. Mifsud Bonnici had the best cycle time of 72:27, 15 seconds better off than Komes and 150 seconds ahead of Bezzina.

Carier seized the lead right from the outset when the 10km run got underway. He never surrendered his lead to finish in 1:57.25, having clocked the best run time of 35:49. Galea was second in 2:01.07 while Fiore finished third, 30 seconds slower.

Komes won the women`s race in 2:13.46, 2:40 ahead of Mifsud Bonnici. The latter`s time of 2:16.37 is a new national record by almost two minutes. Bezzina finished third in 2:20.52 and Marechal fourth.

The veterans` category was won by Max Dujardin from Monaco in 2:04.35. Farrugia was second, less than two minutes behind. Third place went to another Maltese, William Brydon, 2:22.10.

Soteris Nicolaou (Cyprus), Gordon Camenzuli (Malta) and Christos Theodourou (Cyprus) were the first three in the U-23 class. Soteris`s time was 2:05.31.

The team event was won by Monaco (Bruno Fiore, Dennis Watrin and Christophe Agliardi). Galea, Farrugia and Camenzuli were second for Malta and third was Cyprus (Soteris Nicolaou, Christos Theodourou and Kypros Nicolaou).

At the end of the race, Louis Galea, Minister of Education, congratulated all those who took part in the championships, in particular the winners.

Emmanuel Azzopardi, Malta Triathlon Association president, thanked all those who had made the race a success, including the Ministry of Education, the Sports Secretariat, the Naxxar Local Council, the Police Force and the Red Cross.

Race sponsors were General Soft Drinks Co Ltd, Maltacom, Super 5, Kee Klamps and the Malta Tourism Authority.