Victorious in the first five races of the Birkirkara St Joseph Open Water Swimming Series, and one race away from wrapping up this championship, Davina Mangion proved she is at the top of this sport last weekend.
The former national team swimmer produced an outstanding performance in the inaugural 11-kilometre Malta-Gozo-Malta Open Water Swimming Challenge, organised by Birkirkara SJ to commemorate their 35th anniversary.
At 6.30 a.m., the sound of the fog horn rang around Marfa, heralding the start of the first ever Malta-Gozo-Malta swimming race, with 12 swimmers heading towards a turn-around way-point at Qala.
From the very start, held in ideal weather conditions, the participants swam strongly with Mangion taking the lead and stretching it with every stroke. She kept the rhythm virtually throughout the whole race, swimming relentlessly and unchallenged to finish in two hours 45 minutes 48 seconds and be crowned the undisputed Maltese champion of the open waters.
With Karin Mayer finishing second in 3:07.56 seconds, it was an event to be remembered for the fairer sex. First male to finish the challenging race was Simon Zammit in 3:14.53.
Isabelle Zarb was third female in 3:52.44. Karl Formosa finished second in the men’s category in 3: 39.16, ahead of Darren Zahra who was third in 3:48.22.
Meanwhile, Robert Vella and Suzanne Farrugia won their respective categories in the Gozo-Malta Open Water Swimming Challenge, also organised by Birkirkara SJ under the auspices of the Aquatic Sports Association.
Twenty-nine male and 17 female swimmers jumped off Ras il-Qala in Gozo en route to Marfa in Malta for a distance of 5.5 kilometres.
With the legendary Blata tal-Ħalfa serving as the backdrop for the start, the wave of 46 swimmers headed towards Comino at a relatively brisk pace, assisted by the perfect sea conditions.
Vella began to pull away from the group some 200 metres into the race. He increased his lead on passing Comino, where the sea was even calmer, to finish the race in one hour 26 minutes, ahead of Richard Zerafa (1:29.55) and Joe Zerafa Boffa (1:29.57).
Farrugia had to battle it out with Caroline Zammit in the ladies’ section. Both swimmers were making good progress, especially in the second half of the race, leaving the group way behind them.
However, Zammit could not react to Farrugia’s strong swimming in the final stages as the latter prevailed in one hour, 37 minutes, 56 seconds, ahead of Zammit who clocked 1:39.14 seconds. Third place was a keenly-contested affair with veteran Donatelle Callus edging young Kerstin Gatt by 31 seconds to finish in 1:58.15.
Birkirkara St Joseph president Ray Grech thanked all those who contributed to the success of last weekend’s swimming events, particularly Transport Malta, the Armed Forces, the Police, race marshals, time-keepers, sponsors, the management of the Riviera Resort and Spa, and Bertie Muscat from the Kunsill Malti għall-iSport.