Maltese athletes were recently engaged in competition at an international race in Echternach, Luxembourg which also doubled up as the championship for the small states of Europe.
Only Malta and Luxembourg vied for the honours in the championship but the entry field had a registration of 93 triathletes hailing from bigger countries in the continent like Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France and Austria, besides the participation of the Canada team.
Team Malta’s Keith Galea, Steve Chetcuti, Rudolph Agius, Danica Bonello Spiteri, Michelle Vella Wood and Johanna Calleja all produced strong performances in what has now become a high level race that saw athletes from the host country coming out in full force in the category for small nations.
The triathlon covered an Olympic distance of 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run.
As expected, the bike course was very challenging where participants had to tackle steep hills.
Luxembourg were exceptional in team tactics and grouped together to ride a very fast segment, making it quite difficult for the Maltese to keep up with their pace.
In the end, the small nations championship winners were home triathletes Neil Peters and Liz May.
The first Maltese to cross the finish line was Galea, who placed 10th overall in 2:05:05. He was followed by Chetcuti (11th place) with a time of 2:05:57 as Agius covered the distance in 2:15:40.
Bonello Spiteri completed the race in 2:22:15, coming in sixth in the women’s triathlon and 45th overall.
She clocked her fastest swim time in an Olympic distance race (23:03) in the process.
Vella Wood came in at seventh place (and 47th overall) in 2:23:20 and Calleja clocked in eighth woman with a time of 2:28:51.
Malta Triathlon Association president Cyprian Dalli was satisfied with the team’s showing in the championships.
“Our team was a mix of seasoned and relatively new triathletes to the international scene but they maintained their consistency and the results were satisfactory,” he said.
“While it was disappointing that only Malta and Luxembourg fielded triathletes at the championship for small states, most of our objectives were reached as such competitions also serve to improve times and gain more experience on the international scene.”