Galea one hour better off in debut Ironman

"Now, I am sure that the Ironman distance is the kind of racing for me."

Not exactly what you would expect to hear from someone who has just spent nine hours swimming, cycling and running while taking part in the most difficult sporting event around.

Then again, it takes an extraordinary athlete to complete an Ironman and Dermot Galea has just made it into the select list of those who can boast at least one such finish.

His debut came at last month's Zurich Open, one of the races in the Ironman circuit, where Galea's official time was of 9 hours 35 minutes.

"I thought I was only capable of a time of 10 hours 30 minutes," he says, explaining his justified elation for his result.

"I finished 60th overall out of 2,000 starters and seventh in my age group. With 100m to go, I thought what a hard year it had been to arrive to that particular moment: a whole year at University, the thesis, part-time jobs and coaching to get the money for this race.

"All these thoughts went through my mind. Then, I came in, reaching for the skies, and again another big, big smile on my face. The job was complete."

It also took a lot of hard work on the day.

"The race started off with a 3.8km swim. I was quite worried about the confusion at the start with all 2,000 of us aiming for the same buoy," Galea said. "Yet, I had a good start and left the water following a 55-minute swim, some five minutes faster than I had anticipated."

Next up was the bike segment.

Galea said: "For me, this is when the race really got going with 180km of cycling through the city of Zurich. My aim was to keep a constant pace all the way, so I just did my own race as I didn't want to have a nightmare of a marathon run.

"I wasn't pushing in uphills as I wanted to save the legs. The hills were pretty steep but I completed the segment in a respectable split time of 5 hours 15 minutes. At that point, I was still on schedule but I realised I needed to work a lot more on my cycling."

The marathon leg was another tough prospect.

"At transition area I was still feeling strong and set off for my first ever marathon," Galea said.

"At first, I was feeling relaxed and keeping up with time but after the 30-kilometre mark I started feeling stiff in the legs and I was falling behind with every kilometre. I wasn't dead but I couldn't keep the rhythm going... the last lap seemed endless."

Finish-line thoughts

Once over the finishing line, thoughts turned to all those who had assisted him.

"My parents helped me a lot during my long sessions and my girlfriend Johanna had to put up with a lot of things," Galea said.

"Birkirkara St Joseph, my club, were also of great support and also my sponsors Valdora Cycles, Profile Design, Ergomo and Ironman. I would also like to say a big thank-you to Giuzeppe Ferraro, of Starbene, who supplied me with supplements throughout my preparation.

"Finally, I want to thank all those who sent me messages to show their support."

With the pain of all the exertion easing, Galea's thoughts are already on another Ironman, something that he confides he's already planning for, which would also help in him achieving other ambitions.

"This was a great result for me," he said, "but still I keep thinking about two things... I missed the national record and that I did not qualify for the World Championships in Hawaii."