Ten times Malta Triathlon Champion, seven times Ironman Finisher, Malta Triathlon Federation’s National Coach and Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club Triathlete Dermot Galea has achieved his dream of qualifying for a place in the coveted Ironman World Championships, held annually in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Kona, as it is affectionately known in Triathlon circles has been held since 1978. Competition is fierce to secure one of the 1,800 spots, and qualification times get harder and faster.  Dermot's qualification will see that Malta is being represented, for the first time, ever, in the Ironman World Championships.

Dermot Galea has been chasing the Kona dream since 2007, putting long hard hours of training in order to achieve what has become a seemingly impossible qualifying time. Racing in Ironman Zurich on Sunday 28th July, Dermot, battled intense temperatures of 38 degrees to finish 9th in his age group and 49th overall, in a pool of 2,600 athletes thus gaining a place for next year's championships.

"I am extremely happy with this achievement, not just for myself but also for the people around me primarily my fiancée Johanna, my parents and brother Keith, my training partner Barry Farrugia (who is the first Ironman in the Armed Forces of Malta) and his partner Nicoletta Mangion and the rest of the support team I had here in Switzerland, especially Bill Livingstone, Pam Batchelor and Sophie Livingstone who travelled all the way from the UK to support me" said Dermot Galea. "It's a big milestone for Triathlon Malta as we will now be present for the first time at the Ironman World Championships.  I would also like to thank the Malta Triathlon Federation Board for their support, President Cyprian Dalli for all his hard work and my club and secretary general Euchar Camilleri. "

Triathlon in Malta was first introduced in 1986, through the efforts of Peter Paul Borg Costanzi and has in the recent years seen a sharp increase, both in local participation as well as participation in races, such as Ironman, abroad. In fact this year over 25% of the Triathlon community would have participated in Ironman races worldwide.

"We are very proud of Dermot's racing history. Throughout the years, Dermot has made Malta proud, both on a local and international plane. His commitment and determination has resulted in consistent results. Sunday's race in Zurich was the culmination of his efforts" said Cyprian Dalli, President of the Malta Triathlon Federation.  "Dermot's efforts have now taking Triathlon Malta to a higher ground. We are sure that this will be of great motivation to our athletes and prestige to our Federation".

In a separate statement, Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club congratulated their triathlete, emphasizing their pride to have Malta and the Club colours flying for the first time ever in an Ironman World Championship.

An Ironman Triathlon is a race consisting of a 4 km swim, a 180km bicycle ride and a marathon run of 42km, raced in that order and without a break. Ironman Triathlon became known for its grueling length and harsh race conditions.

Hannah Pace, fresh from her Gold medal win at the European Triathlon Union Championships in Alanya has been selected to attend a ten day Athlete Development Camp in Serbia.  Hannah will be amongst sixteen promising young athletes, representing 10 emerging and developing European Federation, benefitting from the possibility and opportunity to learn, improve and work towards the long term plans of their respective Federations.  Hannah will be in for a busy camp schedule which will see participants take part in separate two hour training sessions on swimming, cycling, running and transitions focusing on acquiring new and developing existing skills.

Hannah has had a very successful season so far with a consistent performance in all the races she has competed in so far and currently ranked in second place in the Triathlete of the Year Award, which awards athletes points according to each race’s performance.  Her performance in Alanya, where she competed in the 20 – 24 Age Group Category and completed the Standard distance in a time of 2hours 13 mins cemented her position as an upcoming athlete with a good future ahead.

“Malta Triathlon Federation’s strategy is to develop a strong pool of young athletes to further develop our sport which is seeing continued increase in participation and enthusiasm” said Cyprian Dalli, Malta Triathlon Federation President. “We are very proud of Hannah’s achievements. She has shown consistency and dedication. This training camp will help her develop her potential, and which is sure will be put into practice in the forthcoming International Triathlon Union Championships in London in September.

Hannah’s participation in the camp, which was made possible through the European Triathlon Union Development Board, will be hosted by ETU Development Co-coordinator Zeljko Bijuk, alongside Coach Klemen Laurencak of Slovenia.

The Malta Triathlon Federation will be launching the first Youth Triathlon Academy on Monday 15th July. This project was made possible through the assistance of the Development Board of the European Triathlon Union (ETU) and the Kunsill Malti Ghall-Isports (KMS).

The programme, which has been incorporated in the Kunsill Malti Ghall-Isports ‘Summer on the Move’ programme will have a duration of 10 weeks  and will consist of three  one hour sessions a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Swimming will be held on Monday’s and Fridays whilst Wednesday’s session will consist of a bike and run session. All sessions will be led by Dermot Galea, ten times National Triathlon Champion and current  National Coach who has a level 3 coaching qualification..

“The Malta Triathlon Federation has been working on this project for quite a while and through funding received under the ETU Development programme we were able to establish and launched this project. This projectt is the launching pad for the future of triathlon in Malta, which has in the recent months seen a substantial rise in participation” said Cyprian Dalli, President of the Malta Triathlon Federation, . "It would be the first time that Triathlon will be opening up to kids and youths in Malta and we are certain that this will mean a healthier, stronger and better future for the sports in Malta. Apart from the ETU, we are also indebted  to the Kunsill Malti għall-iSports  for the support” continued Dalli.