A fleet of 137 young sailors from nine countries will be contesting the 15th edition of the Optimists Class Euromed Malta Championship which will be held between next Friday and Monday.

Mellieħa Bay is once again the championship’s racing arena with the Maxima Lido hosting the race office and the launching area.

The four-day race will be contested by both male and female young sailors coming from Cyprus, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Greece, Romania and Malta.

This will be the first time that the Euromed Championship will have participants from Ireland, Spain and Greece.

The biggest three foreign contingents hail from Sicily with 29 sailors, Ireland with 16, and Russia with 14 while the Maltese team is made up of 40 sailors.

“We practise every weekend throughout the year but increase our training intensity in the last three weeks prior the event,” Jean Paul Fleri Soler, coach at the Malta Young Sailors Club (MYSC), said.

“Some of our sailors even join extra workouts given by foreign coaches the week before the Euromed.

“I think we have five very strong contenders this year who all stand a chance of placing, but this all depends on the weather conditions and how well the foreign competitors perform on the days of the event.”

Further to the MYSC, the Birżebbuġa Sailing Club is the other local organisation represented in the Euromeds.

The championship is also an attraction to Laser dinghy sailors where participation is not constrained by an age limit.

Euromeds participants will be split up into five categories, namely, the Optimist Cadet Class, the Optimist Open Class, the Optimist Novice Class and two Laser Dinghy Classes – Laser Radial Class and Laser 4.7 Class.

Nine races, with seven to count, will make up the racing programme of the championship organised by the Malta Young Sailors Club with the cooperation of the Kunsill Malti għall-iSport and the Mellieħa Local Council.

Racing is held under the patronage of the Malta Sailing Federation.

The Seabank Resort and Spa in Mellieħa is the official hotel of the 2014 Euromed Championship.

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