Exciting Racing in the 24/7 Fitness Club Malta Youth Triathlon Series 2018

A record number of 50 starters took part in this year’s Malta Youth Triathlon Series, organised by the Malta Triathlon Federation and supported by 24/7 Fitness Club. The series consists of five races (three triathlons, a duathlon and an aquathlon) which were held on the same course and date as the Senior events. By so doing, Triathlon Malta seeks to actively provide safe and challenging multisport events to young triathletes in order to ease their introduction into the senior events once they come of age.
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The participants whose age ranged from 5 to 16, were divided into four different categories according to their date of birth, and the race distances were adjusted accordingly.

In the youngest group, Alex Spiteri Fiteni and Julia Schembri of the topped the category after winning each race on the calendar. Paula Scerri & Tyler Grima were placed in second while Amy St. John and Neil Cassar finished in the third overall position.

In Category B, which gathered athletes between 9 and 11 years, Michael Xuereb and Chylen Fava finished joint first place in the boys, while Kayleigh Abela made it on top in the girls’ category and Julienne Woods finished second. Shannen Mallia and Max Spiteri Fiteni were third in this category.

Keira Attard and Kai Azzopardi were top female and male in Category C for athletes between 12 and 13 years after winning all races in the series. Luca Vella was second overall while Fabian Grech Manz was third in the overall ranking.

Category 4, with youths of between 14 and 15 was very hotly contested and finally it was Callie Hock and Thomas G. Woods who won the group standings. In second place came Emilia Vella and Pavel Dalli, while Gabriel Bongailas and Pia Zammit were third in this group, which is the stepping stone towards adult triathlon races.
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In his statement, Cyprian Dalli, President of Triathlon Malta said that ‘it is so encouraging seeing youth triathlon so thriving in Malta! We started this as an experiment some years ago and this is the second year running we are holding the Malta Youth Triathlon Series. I would like to express all our gratitude to the Malta Youth Triathlon Academy-MYTA and the newly-formed TriGozo team for investing so heavily in youth triathlon as well as SportMalta who believed and supported our project from the very beginning. We are hugely indebted to 24/7 Fitness Club who supported us and made this year’s series so exciting. Finally, heartfelt appreciation to the parents who voluntary help and officiate at our races’.