Gellel, Caruana Dingli overall winners

The overall winners of the fifth Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series, sponsored by Red Bull and under the auspices of the Malta Triathlon Association, are Michael Gellel and Debbie Caruana Dingli.

For the second consecutive time, Dermot Galea emerged victorious in this fifth and final race, clocking up a remarkable time for the course.

Dermot Galea even widened the gap on his nearest rival, David Galea who was caught up by overall leader Gellel, the latter crowning his fine performances with a joint second in the final race. Marylynn Bezzina, returning after missing the previous race, was first women triathlete to finish the race.

Dermot Galea led the race from the start. He finished the 750m swim in 12 minutes 6 seconds, followed by his Birkirkara St Joseph team-mates Keith Galea (12 minutes 23 seconds) and Gordon Camenzuli (13 minutes 4 seconds).

David Galea powered himself to third spot following the 20K bike segment which he cycled in 31 minutes 19 seconds. Dermot Galea continued to increase his lead, cycling the distance in 30 minutes 5 seconds, while Keith Galea held on to second place with a 31 minutes 47 seconds cycle.

As expected, the best time in the 5K run belonged to Gellel - 18 minutes 23 seconds. He finished the race joint second after catching David Galea midway through the run in a time of 1 hour 3 minutes 29 seconds.

A happy man on the day though was race winner Dermot Galea. He finished in 1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds which is also the best time recorded this season on the Salina-Bahar ic-Caghaq route.

Bezzina won the women's race in 1 hour, 16 minutes, 23 seconds after swimming the 750m in 14 minutes 30 seconds, cycled the 20K in 36 minutes 45 seconds and ran the final 5K in 25 minutes 8 seconds.

She was followed by Michelle Wood in 1 hour, 18 minutes 52 seconds and overall series leader Caruana Dingli in 1 hour, 29 minutes, 1 second.

Birkirkara SJ were assisted by the Malta Triathlon Association, Red Bull, St James Hospital, Burmarrad Commercials and the District Police in the organisation of the 2005 Series.