Birkirkara St Joseph triathletes Dermot Galea, Barry Farrugia and Luke Bonnici all had performances to remember at the 70.3 Ironman in Antwerp last week with Galea, in particular, registering the best time ever achieved by a Maltese over the same distances.

The results obtained continue to confirm the improvement local triathletes are showing in international long distance events, following their various successful achievements in Olympic distance triathlons.

Galea, the national champion, finished the 1.9km swim in 25:38 followed by Bonnici in 26:40 and Farrugia 34.01.

After a rather long stretch to transition area, Galea started to push up the pace on the flat bike course, finishing the 90km circuit in 2:24.16.

Farrugia did the bike segment in 2:34.00, a few seconds faster than Bonnici.

Galea started the 21km run 88th overall. However, by the end of the triathlon, he improved 20 positions in a race that had 1,000 starters.

In the process Galea achieved a PB and his 4:22.30 is also the best time ever registered by a Maltese triathlete in a half-Ironman.

In Belgium, Galea classified 13th overall in the 30-34 age-group.

Farrugia ran the half-marathon in Antwerp in a strong time of 1:39.00, to finish his first half-Ironman in 4:53.46 that placed him 305th.

Bonnici, who was also experiencing his first half-Ironman, finished in a time of 4:57.37, placing himself 335th overall.