Galea sixth in Bedford

Malta champion Keith Galea placed sixth overall and second in his age group (20-24 years) in this year’s Bedford Triathlon Classic in the UK.

Galea had a good, solid swim covering the 1,600 metres in 23 minutes, 37 seconds. At this stage the Birkirkara St Joseph triathlete was positioned at seventh place.

A couple of mishaps on the bike course, caused due to the non-traffic free routes and inefficient marshalling, hampered Galea’s performance.

However, he still managed to climb a couple of places with a bike segment of 1:06.09 over the 42 kilometres.

Frantic efforts to make up for lost time on the bike did not help Galea’s cause in the final 10-kilometre run.

His time of 37:08 in this segment, relegated him back to sixth place. It was here that he also lost the top spot in his age-group, finishing the race in 2:08.22.

In all, 135 triathletes took part in the Bedford Classic which was won by Robert Brundish in 2:01.45.

The first woman to finish the race was Esther Rodriguez in a time of 2:24.11.