His sights now firmly set on the mother of all swims, that is the English Channel Crossing, Birkirkara St Joseph long distance swimmer Keith Bartolo had his first taste of this mythical swim by taking part in the Champion of Champions race, organised recently by the British Long Distance Swimming Association (BLDSA) in Dover Harbour.

This prestigious event is one in a series of four organised by this Association. Each event consists of three races in one day, one of 8km, another of 4.8km and another of 1.6km.

The water temperature in Dover Harbour was 13 degrees Celsius. Bartolo was only scheduled to take part in the 8km morning event, but following his recent good form, plans were changed for him to go for the three distances, and thus complete the Champion of Champions.

The times he achieved were very encouraging, proving that he is on the right track in his rigorous training schedule. The morning 8km race was covered in one hour, 56 minutes and 38 seconds.

The Birkirkara swimmer was ready to take on the afternoon challenges, covering the ensuing 4.8km in one hour, 8 minutes 26 seconds. In the final 1.6km race later on in the evening, he clocked 23 minutes, five seconds.

These performances placed Bartolo 16th in the overall classification out of a field of 52 long distance swimmers, the majority of them aspiring to cross the Channel.

Bartolo's next international commitments will be the 17km race in Lake Windermere in September (another BLDSA major event), and a week later he will be swimming the 10km in Lock Earn in Scotland.