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Maltese National Team in African Triathlon Championship

Keith Galea had the experience of a lifetime when he won all Age-Groups at the African Triathlon Championship (ATC) which was held at Yasmine Hammamet in Tunisia on Sunday 9 March. Galea’s team-mates, Danica Spiteri and Fabio Spiteri, also had very positive results with the former winning her Age-Group and finishing the Race 2^nd Woman Overall and the latter finishing 2^nd in his Age-Group and 4^th Overall.

Twenty-four athletes from South Africa, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Morocco, Italy and Malta lined up for the start of the Championship which saw the athletes swim 1500m, cycle 40km and run 10km. Keith Galea finished the Swim in 5^th position overall but it took him less than 2 laps of the bike to put all his opponents behind him; from then on there was no looking back for the 20-year old lad who went on to win the Race in a time of 2hrs: 05m:57s. Both Danica Spiteri and Fabio Spiteri experienced difficulties in the swim; however, while Danica managed to hang on to her second place to finish in a time of 2hrs:23m, Fabio overtook 3 athletes in the cycle and was fast closing the gap on the athlete in front of him; in the end, however, he had to settle for 4^th place.

The Elite Race, which was held the day before, was won by Hendrik De Villiers from South Africa in a time of 1hr:50m:53s while the Women’s race was won by Marie Rabie, also from South Africa, in 2hrs:04m:00s. Thanks to these victories, both De Villiers and Rabie have earned automatic qualification for the Beijing Olympics later on in August.

In the meantime, Manuel Azzopardi, President of the Malta Triathlon Association, who accompanied the National Team to Tunisia, attended important meetings with officials from the International Triathlon Union regarding such varying issues as the setting up of a Mediterranean Triathlon Championship, the inclusion of Triathlon in the Mediterranean Games and Sports Development Schemes.

The presence of the Maltese Team in Tunisia had the double goal of showing solidarity with the newly founded Tunisian Triathlon Federation and establishing a good contact with the Tunisian athletes with the aim that they will participate in our own ChooseMalta.com National Triathlon Championship later on in October.