National Championships attract record field

The Malta Triathlon Association will organise the National Championships on Sunday at the Salina Coast Road. The championships, the 22nd since their inception, will be held over the Olympic distance of 1,500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.

Danica Bonello Spiteri is the leading candidate for the top honour in the women’s race, having won the national title for the past three years and eights times in all.

However, the men’s category is going to produce a new champion.

With nine-times winner Dermot Galea absent from this year’s competition, the race for the title is likely to be fought out between Keith Galea, fresh from a three-month training camp in the UK, and Mark Zammit, who himself has just returned from a short training camp in Sicily, courtesy of the MOC-CONI Protocol.

This season’s Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series attracted a record number of participants, some of whom are new to sports, let alone triathlon. This year’s championships will be a test for the organisers whose resources – both human and in terms of equipment – will be tested to the limit.

Thanks to the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), two top UK athletes, Michelle Scott and Mark Sykes, who have represented Britain in their respective Age Groups at the World Championships Final in Hungary early in September, will be challenging the locals for the top honours.

The MTA has also invited journalists from a leading Japanese triathlon magazine, Triathlon Trip, with the aim of attracting interest from Asia for next year’s race.

Triathlon Malta will be assisted by Joseph F. Spiteri & Co. Ltd and Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club in manning the Transition Area, while the championships are sponsored by Plum Tree Restaurant, Pharma MT Ltd and Kristal Water.