Over 80 triathletes took part in Sunday’s BBB-Buff National Championships, racing in either the Standard (1.5k swim, 40k cycle, 10k run) or the Sprint Distance (750m swim, 20k cycle and 5k run) at the Coast Road.
The race, held in adverse weather conditions, saw Keith Galea retaining his crown and Michelle Vella Wood breaking Danica Bonello Spiteri’s seven-year reign to claim the women’s title.
This was Galea’s third national title. On Sunday, his accumu-lated time was 2:03:20.
Leading from the word go, he suffered what could have been a major setback after a puncture in the cycle leg.
This, however, did not adversely affect his general performance as he maintained the lead before crossing the line with a comfortable three-minute advantage over nearest rival Fabio Spiteri who clocked 2:06:17 overall.
Veteran David Galea, fresh from his Age Group win at the Vulcano Standard Distance Triathlon in Sicily the week before, was third.
Bonello Spiteri produced a fine showing in the swim on Sunday, coming out of the water a good 20 seconds faster than Vella Wood and Hannah Pace.
However, Vella Wood narrowed the gap in the cycling leg before overtaking Bonello Spiteri in the run to win the race in 2:11:44.
Vella Wood was consistent all season, also winning the duath-lon championships and the Bir-kirkara St Joseph Sprint Series.
Bonello Spiteri crossed the line in 2:14:52 to settle for the runner-up spot ahead of Pace (2:17:39) who was only running her third Standard distance race in her triathlon career.
Newcomer Wayne Spiteri won the Sprint race in 1:04:51. Graham Borg was second (1:07:13) despite suffering a nasty fall due to the slippery roads, and Mark Micallef third in 1:09:31.
Michelle Scott, from Great Britain, pipped Denise Buttigieg to first place in the women’s Sprint with only two seconds separating the two girls in what was a closely-fought battle.
Margaret Seguna, back from injury, was third in 1:21:11.
“As anticipated, the champion-ships did not disappoint us,” Cyprian Dalli, president of the Malta Triathlon Association, said yesterday.
“From a participation level we had a record number of entries and we’ve also seen a number of personal best times being registered.
“The championships were the culmination of a season that gave us a lot of satisfactions. Now, we hope that the growth our sport has enjoyed lately will continue as we start planning for the new season.”
The federation said it was greatly indebted to its partners and sponsors without which help the organisation of such events would not be possible.
Support came from BBB Bike Parts, www.buffmalta.com, Gar-min Malta, MZ Marketing, Flora Pro Active, Western Union, Prin-gles, Attard Bros, Birkirkara SJ, Go & Fun and The Cyclist.