Spiteri fourth in Cyprus race

Three Maltese triathletes recently took part in a half ironman race, organised by the British RAF triathlon team based in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

The race consisted of a 1.9km swim, a 90km cycle and a 21km offroad run.

The wind and heavy rain the day before made the race conditions more difficult as the participants had to contend with choppy seas and a muddy terrain.

Fifty-four triathletes from Cyprus, Romania, Malta and the RAF British Army took up the challenge.

Spiteri, fresh from his participation in the Ironman Lanzarote this year, enjoyed a fine start, coming out of the water among the second group of swimmers.

In the 90km cycling segment, Spiteri posted the second best bike split of the day to move up from 15th to fifth position.

Into the last 21km run section, Spiteri showed his mettle as he finished fourth overall in a time of 4hrs 48mins 45secs.

The winner was Antoniou Stavros in 4:38.30.

For Spiteri, this was his last triathlon of the season before starting his preparations for the full ironman distance.

The two other Maltese participants in Cyprus were John Cassar, a new face in triathlon, and Steve Giordano Imbroll, who has successfully completed an ironman race in Austria.

Both managed to dip under the six-hour barrier as Cassar clocked 5:47.10 and Imbroll 5:48.28.

Garmin Malta and The Cyclist supported Spiteri’s participation in the Cyprus half ironman race.