Second race victories for Galea, Spiteri

Following the break due to the Triathlon Championships of the Small States of Europe, the Birkirkara St Joseph Series resumed with the second race at Bahar ic-Caghaq.

National champion Dermot Galea, experiencing an unexpected loss of form in the international race held in Malta, bounced back to register his second victory in the series.

With the exception of Galea, though, all national team triathletes improved their finishing times over the first race, rendering the outcomes highly exciting and unpredictable to the very end.

Small States Championship winner Danica Spiteri also smashed her previous best time by a staggering three minutes and nine seconds.

With the recent results achieved, it is very evident that Maltese triathlon has reached new standards, which augurs well for the future.

The race at Salina was another battle royale between Galea and Mark Zammit. The latter had the fastest swim over 750 metres, clocking 10 minutes 50 seconds, leading Galea and his brother Keith.

On the bike segment, Dermot pulled back 51 seconds, opening up an eight-second lead at the beginning of the 5km run.

In this leg, Zammit kept up the pace as both protagonists battled it out to the finish line in yet another close affair.

Dermot managed to hold on to his lead and went on to open an insurmountable gap in the very final few metres. His finishing time was 59:11. Zammit was second in 59:19 and Keith Galea third in 1:02.49.

Spiteri produced a great performance in the women's race. Although her swim time was comparatively slow, 14 minutes, she more than made up for it during the rest of the race.

In fact, Spiteri cycled 20kms in 35:04 and ran 5kms in 20:41 for an accumulated time of 1:09.45. Mic-helle Wood was second in 1:26.17 and Debbie Caruana Dingli, back after a long absence, third in 1:30.42.

A relay team made up of Luke Sammut (swimmer), Etienne Bonello (cyclist) and David Galea (runner) finished the triathlon in 58:23.

Birkirkara SJ organised the race in collaboration with Red Bull, Burmarrad Commercials, Nextweb, Emirates, Malta Triathlon Association, Naxxar Local Council and the Police.

The third race of the series will be held on Sunday.