Birkirkara St Joseph’s Graham Borg was the first triathlete home in his age-group at the annual middle distance race held recently at San Vito Lo Capo in Trapani.

Borg’s performance in Sicily placed him in eighth place in the overall classification.

In all, 141 men and nine women finished the triathlon among whom a few professionals including Daniel Fontana, winner of this year’s Ironman Mexico.

Other strong contenders in Trapani were Sebastian Pedraza, Stefano Paoli, Matteo Annovazzi and former Nice Ironman race winner Martina Dogana.

Dogana won the women’s race in 4:33.57 ahead of Marianna La Colla (5:12.48).

Fontana (4:02.43) was more than four minutes faster than second-placed Paoli (4:06.56) with Pedraza third (4:08.19).

Borg had a very strong 1.9-kilometre swim, coming out of the water in eighth place.

In the 90-kilometre bike segment of the race, held over two hilly laps with a total elevation of over 1,200 metres, the BSJ man lifted himself to sixth place. However in the concluding 21-kilometre run Borg slipped back to eighth place.

He covered the distance in four hours, 26 minutes, 40 seconds.

Borg is sponsored by Western Union Business Solutions, C Fragrances.com, MZ Investments and Maltanutrion.com.