Bonello Spiteri and Galea shine in series

National champions Keith Galea and Danica Bonello Spiteri reigned supreme throughout the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series 2011, winning all four races.

A total of 116 triathletes took part in this year’s races, held under the auspices of the national association.

Notwithstanding the influx of new participants, the events were organised to a high standard.

Galea twice dipped beneath the one-hour mark in the 750m swim, 20km cycle and the 5km run.

Carl Attard also managed to go under the hour in the final race but suffered a two-minute penalty for drafting in the bike segment.

Galea’s winning time was four hours, 42 seconds. Attard was second in 4:04.04 and rookie Steve Chetcuti third in 4:15.00, eight seconds ahead of Rudolph Agius. All four are members of Birkirkara SJ.

Veteran Nicky Farrugia had a great season, winning the seniors category in 4:32.41.

In the women’s series, Bonello Spiteri was simply irresistible. She smashed the course record in the final race, clocking one hour, six minutes, 45 seconds.

Bonello Spiteri topped the classification with a time of 4:33.30 to finish ahead of Donatelle Camilleri, 4:56.17. Margaret Seguna was third in 5:05.38.

In the women’s seniors, Suzanne Farrugia won in 5:28.28 to finish ahead of BSJ team-mate Debbie Caruana Dingli (5:37.57).

Ilkley race

Bonello Spiteri is rapidly making her mark in the UK triathlon scene.

The Malta champion has just taken part in the Ilkley Triathlon which consisted of a 500m pool based swim, where she clocked 7.54.

She then headed out to a three-lap 5km bike course, 2km of which were steep uphill. Bonello Spiteri showed her grit, clocking 33 minutes. A quick transition led to a 5km run, which also featured the steep 2km uphill, clocking 21:15.

This gave her a total time of 1:03.32, placing her second overall and first in her age group (30-39).

The race was won by top UK triathlete Rachel Bamford.