Keith Galea wins battle of champions
Bonello Spiteri narrowly fails to equal own course record
The second round from the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series featured a heavyweight duel between Malta champion Keith Galea and Mark Zammit, the Pembroke Athleta triathlete who won the Small States of Europe title.
In the women’s competition, national champion Danica Bonello Spiteri turned on the power to finish seconds away from her own course record on the Salina Coast Road.
Zammit led the wave of swimmers from the start of the 750m swim, clocking 10 minutes, five seconds. Galea was second, one minute 30 seconds behind Zammit, with Birkirkara SJ’s Carl Attard third in 12:08.
Attard went into a higher gear in the ensuing 20km cycle, catching up both leaders to finish the bike segment in 29:05.
The leading trio started the final 5km run a few seconds apart.
It was here that Galea began to stamp his authority on the race. His punishing pace proved too much for his opponents as Attard’s bike effort took its toll and it was left to Zammit to chase the leader.
It was game over in the final 800m as all eyes were on the chronometre which was below the one-hour mark. Galea’s final surge stopped the watches at 59 minutes, 55 seconds, breaking the elusive one-hour mark on this course.
Zammit clocked 1:00.33 and the third-placed Attard 1:00.48.
It was more of the same in the women’s race. Bonello Spiteri registered fast times in all segments of the triathlon.
She finished the 750m swim in 12:15, cycled the 20km distance in 34:15 and had enough energy in reserve to have a go at the course record in the final segment.
However, her valiant effort was not enough to achieve her goal. Bonello Spiteri completed the 5km run in 20:30 for an overall time of 1:08.00, only 24 seconds outside her own course record.
Donatelle Camilleri was second in 1:13.26 and Caroline Zammit third in 1:15.18.