Exceptionally tough weather conditions prevailed during Sunday’s Garmin Ocean Lava 113km Triathlon giving over 50 athletes a physically demanding and mentally challenging day on the scenic coastal route.
The scene for the day was set immediately in the 1.9km swim segment when athletes had to contend with swells of over a metre in height in the normally sheltered beach.
From the onset it was clear that previous year’s winner Rudolph Agius was going to set the pace and was first out of water clocking 32 minutes and 24 seconds. Just behind were Paul Privitera and Graham Borg who were second and third out of the water respectively.
Out onto the undulating and unforgiving windy 90km bike course, positions started to move around with veteran triathlete David Galea closing in on Agius and edging him to register a slightly faster time on the cycle segment.
As the temperatures soared, it was a head to head battle between Agius and Galea, who for majority of the 21km run were running abreast. It was in the final two kilometres of the race that Agius started to increase the pace, slowly distancing himself from Galea to win the race in a time of four hours thirty nine minutes and 54 seconds and claim the championship time for the second successive year.
Galea crossed the finish line twenty seconds later.
A fine showing was produced by third placed athlete Josef Bonavia who steadily moved up the leaderboard throughout the race – exiting the water in 12th place he moved up to fourth place in the cycle segment, keeping this position till the end of the race.
“It was very close race with David Galea,” Agius said.
“Whilst I exited with an approximate three minute advantage over David in the swim, he narrowed the gap on the bike segment. We kept pushing the gears, never slowing down or losing the focus throughout.
“In the run, it was very much a side by side race, but in the last two kilometres I gave it a strong push to win”.
In the women’s race indications showed that Margaret Seguna was on course to attain her second championship title for the year. Seguna was the fifth athlete to exit the water. Sprinting out of transition she went straight into the bike course with focused determination to finish in 19th place overall.
A fast transition into the run saw her take a comfortable lead.
Nevertheless Seguna did not falter and kept a strong pace to cross the finish line in a time of five hours twenty four minutes and eight seconds.
In second place, newcomer to triathlon, Karen Amato showed that she is someone potentially to watch out for.
Amato was one of the first twenty athletes to exit the water, but struggled in the bike segment.
Not daunted, Amato put her running background to good use to edge her way past Italian Alessandra Fior beating her by nearly three minutes to claim second place on the podium
“I am very pleased with my performance today,” Seguna said.
“The conditions were far from perfect, especially with the sea swell and wind on the bike course, however the race offers a great atmosphere and turnout and served as a great prelude to my Ironman participation in Sweden in August.”
Charlie Demanuele, the race director, was pleased with the 2017 proceedings and hopes the event will continue to flourish for years to come.
“This race is not for the faint hearted, each year we experience very rough weather conditions,” he said.
“The bike course offers a mix of uphills, downhills and flat terrain, however with the strong weather conditions encountered on the day, little respite was given to our athletes.
“The race is slowly growing – we have a loyal following by athletes who keep returning and little by little we are introducing this race to their friends and to foreign athletes.
“With the support of the local authorities we hope that this race will grow to its full potential in the future years.”
The 2018 Edition of the Garmin Ocean Lava Malta 113k Triathlon will be held on May 20, 2018.