The Malta Triathlon Federation will be staging the 31st edition of the Malta National Triathlon Championship this Sunday at Salini Beach and along the Coast Road. This is, as per tradition, the grand final of the local triathlon and multisport season which has seen athletes racing in different formats of racing combining the three sports of swimming, cycling and running.
 
The Championship will be raced on a single triathlon on the Standard, or Olympic Distance. The race will start with a 1.5KM swim, followed by a 40KM cycling segment and concluded with a 10KM run. Around 70 athletes are expected to take part in the Championship, which include some of the big names in the local triathlon community who will be vying to become National Champion. A good number of international participation from Great Britain, Italy, Latvia, and other countries will be adding an extra dose of excitement to the race.
 
For the first time, the Malta Triathlon Federation changed the format of the races from a non-drafting to a draft-legal race and this will make the outcome of the race even more exciting and uncertain.
 
“We have moved towards a draft-legal races for two reasons” explains Cyprian Dalli, President of the Malta Triathlon Federation and Race Director. “The most important one was that our athletes are finding more opportunities for draft-legal triathlons on the international sphere and they will be required to race in this format if they aspire to compete at Elite Level. Secondly, it was felt that locally we were lacking draft-legal triathlons and so we started with this small but very important revolution. We are sure that all athletes will enjoy this race and will ask for more.”
 
The Championships are being supported by Express Trailers through the involvement of Mosta Cycling Club, one of three clubs that have secured a three-year sponsorship from Express Trailers.
 
“Throughout these past years, Express Trailers has started building a close rapport with road running sports. Our company’s operations are mainly based on road transport and although we are doing a necessary job of transporting goods for the local market, we also acknowledge that our fleet of trucks and trailers put a burden on all the other road users, especially the more vulnerable ones such as runners and cyclists. Our support to these events on our roads, seeks to redress the balance,” said Franco Azzopardi, Chairman and CEO of Express Trailers.
 
Simultaneous with the Standard Championship race, the Federation will hold an ancillary Sprint Triathlon on the half distances. For this race, there will be around 30 athletes competing as well as 4 relay teams.
 
The races will start at 7:30am this Sunday from the Salini Beach while the cycling and running will be held on the Coast Road. Attendance is free of charge and the general public is encouraged to attend and support the athletes.

VERŻJONI BIL-MALTI
F' laqgħa msejjħa mill-Amministrazzjoni tal-Malta Triathlon Federation fil-kumpless tal-Pixxina Nazzjonali tal-Qroqq, illum is-Sibt 30 ta' Settembru 2017 fit-8:30 a.m. in konnessjoni mar-reazzjoni fuq il-media soċjali wara rapport li deher fuq it-Times of Malta dwar każ kurrenti min-Nado fuq atleta tal-Federazzjoni, il-Clubs preżwnti jaqblu u jiddikkjaraw li :

1. Jikkundannaw l-istqarrijiet u l-kummenti dispreġġjattivi kontra il-President u uffiċċjali tal-Federazzjoni;

2. Jifhmu li l-proċedura spjegata lilhom meħuda mill-Federazzjoni f' dan il-każ hija waħda kif jitlob l-Avviż Legali relattiv għar-rigward in-NADO u l-mod ta' etika kif timxi l-Federazzjoni f' sitwazzjonijiet simili, aktar li l-każ gadu għaddej u l-proċess għadu mhux magħluq.

IFFIRMATA 

St. Patrick's Sports Club
Mario Muscat

Mosta Cycling Club
Edward Enriquez

Pembroke Atleta Triathlon & Athletic Club
Victor Camilleri

Malta Youth Triathlon Academy - MYTA
Vanessa Woods

Birkirkara St. Joseph Sport Club
Euchar Camilleri

SKUŻATI
Oswald Spiteri - Teżorier, MTF
Delegat tal-Klubb Agones SFC (Joseph Zammit parti mil-laqgħa)
Delegat tal-Klabb Mellieha Athletic Club

_____________________________ 

ENGLISH VERSION
During a meeting called by the Administration of the  Malta Triathlon Federation in the National Pool Complex at Tal-Qroqq, today, Saturday, 30 September 2017 at 8:30 a.m. in connection with the reaction on social media after a report which was published on the Times Of Malta regarding a current case by Nado about an athlete of the Federation, the present clubs agreed and declare that :

1. They condemn the degrading statements and comments against the President and officials of the Federation;

2. They understand that the procedure explained to them and followed by the Federation in this case is one that follows the relevant Legal Notice in connection with NADO and the ethical approach in place in similar situations the Federation, more so that the case is still undergoing and the process has not yet been concluded.

SIGNED
St. Patrick's Sports Club
Mario Muscat

Mosta Cycling Club
Edward Enriquez

Pembroke Atleta Triathlon & Athletic Club
Victor Camilleri

Malta Youth Triathlon Academy - MYTA
Vanessa Woods

Birkirkara St. Joseph Sport Club
Euchar Camilleri

EXCUSED
Oswald Spiteri - Treasurer, MTF
Club Delegate Agones SFC (Joseph Zammit attended to part of the meeting)
Club Delegate Mellieha Athletic Club

END OF STATEMENT

​In response to the news that was published this morning on 'The Times Of Malta', regarding the suspension of a member and athlete following in an out-of-competition doping test, the Malta Triathlon Federation states that :

i. The MTF has always maintain a zero-tolerance towards any use of banned substances in sport. This was, is and will be the philosophy of the current administration;

ii. The MTF has followed the procedures as established in the Laws of Malta Act 455 and the Legal Notice 17/2015, and has immediately suspended the athlete upon receiving the first result from the National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO);

iii. The MTF has always maintained that any official statement on such cases is to be issued when the whole process is finalised. This particular case has not yet been concluded.  Thus, the MTF is following the same procedures as established in previous such cases;

iv. During this process, the MTF has been in full collaboration with the National Anti-Doping Organisation of Malta, and will continue to do so to ensure a clean and fair sport;

v. The MTF encourages and commend its members and athletes who work hard and play by the rules in order to reach their full potential, in triathlon, in sport and in life;

v. The MTF encourages its athletes to ensure that they never, for any reason whatsoever, make use of any illicit or banned substance and to ensure that sports and in particular triathlon is preserved safe, clean and fair.

End of Statement

The Force 6 Northern winds played havoc on the MTF’s plans to host this National contest for the first time in Bugibba as the waves came in high and strong to batter the shoreline on race morning. However, after due deliberation and consideration, the Federation turned to its plan B and changed the venue to the tried-and-tested grounds of the Salini Bay on the Coast Road.

The race saw a very interesting mix of established multisport athletes and a healthy number of newcomers, with most of them being young athletes ready eager to test themselves.  The National Championship was raced on the World-Championship distances, that is two runs of 2.5KMs each with a swim of 1000 metres in between.

The race was oncea again supported by Gatorade Sports Drink and San Michel Water : official hydration suppliers for Triathlon Malta.
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Race-Report
From the very first seconds of the contest, reigning champion Shaun Galea went into the lead and established the fastest Run 1 of the lot covering the distance in 8 minutes and 34 seconds. He was closely followed by the formidable 15-year old Malcolm Vassallo, and Neil Markham. However, in the swimming section it was Latvian Stanislav Vaipans who rocketed in front and opened a gap on his closest rivals, young Bernard Sant and Graham Borg. But Galea once again was on fire on the run as the Pembroke Atleta competitor went on to claim his second Aquathlon national title in a time of 34 minutes and 50 seconds, just 9 seconds ahead of Vaipans in second and minute in front of Borg in third.

In the female race, Run 1 did not manage to differentiate the most anticipated contestants away from each other as Danica Bonello Spiteri, Celine Pace, Margaret Seguna and Hannah Pace entered into the Transition in just an 8 seconds gap. Pace managed to pull through and record the fastest swim of the lot, with Bonello Spiteri and Seguna trailing 7 seconds behind, but Bonello Spiteri of St. Patrick’s AC recorded the fastest Run 2 to seal her 100% winning claim on the Aquathlon National Championships in a time of 38 minutes and 15 seconds, followed by Pace in second and Seguna in third.

Age-Categories
In the Age-Categories, the Youth category was won by Jean Claude Randon of St. Patrick’s AC, while the Junior titles were won by Bernard Sant of B’Kara St. Joseph and Anjelika Ruggier. The Over 30 category went to James Cutajar and Pembroke Atleta’s Celine Pace, the Over 40 to Denise Tanner and Niki Bilocca, while the Over 50 titles went to ever-greens Angele Cortis and Brian Magri. In the Relay-Team categories, the title went to the duo composed of runner Jonathan Carter and swimmer Jake Diedo.

Youth Aquathlon Races
A full programme of Children and Youth Aquathlon races were held immediately after, which saw 40 athletes between 6 and 16 fighting it out in thrilling races. Overall, it was the Malta Youth Triathlon Academy – MYTA who garnered the biggest haul of titles by claiming 5 out of the 8 top spots available. Julienne Woods won Category 1, Luke Camilleri won Category 2, Thomas Woods JR. topped Category 3 while Gabriel Bongailas and Callie Hock won the top sports in Category 4, all running for the MYTA colours. Other successes were registered by Daniel Pauley of La Salle in Category 1, Zoe Ives in Category 2 and Charlotte Spencer in Category 3.

The next weeks will be very busy for the Malta Triathlon Federation as it will hold the National Sprint-Triathlon Championship on the 10 of September in collaboration with Birkirkara St. Joseph Sport Club, while the season will come to an end in the Grand Final of the Express Trailers National Triathlon Championship, which will be held in collaboration with Mosta Cycling Club on Sunday 8 October.
More details can be obtained from info@triathlonmalta.org and 79037933.

It was the fifth consecutive year of participation in the European Triathlon Championships by athletes from the Malta Triathlon Federation. The Federation has made these championships a contact appointment on each season’s international calendar and the tally of positive results and medals were once again increased during this years’ competitions.

For the first time, the European Triathlon Union opted for two different championships at two different venues in successive weekends. The Standard (Olympic) distance Triathlon Championships were held in Kitzbuhel, Austria, while the Sprint distance Championships was held the following weekend in Dusseldorf, Germany.

For the Maltese colours, it was the current Malta Champion Hannah Pace who managed the best results as she claimed a Bronze medal in each of the championships in her age-category. In Kitzbuhel, Pace challenged for the win until the very end of the race, where only a sprint finish separated the top three females in the category. This left Pace disappointed just after the race, however the Bronze medal and her fighting spirit took over and she went over to Germany the following week to claim another prestigious third place among some of the finest female triathletes on the continent.

These latest 2 medals brings Pace’s personal tally of European Triathlon Championships to an impressive 6 medals in 4 years. Her first outing at the European stage was in Alanya, Turkey in 2013, where she won Gold in the Standard. Two years later she won the Bronze in the Sprint Championship in Geneva, Switzerland while last year it was a double Silver medal for her in both the Standard and the Sprint in Lisbon, Portugal.

Just after the races, Pace reported that ‘It is always a great feeling to take part in these European Championships as the atmosphere is amazing! All along the routes you receive support form the spectators and you are racing side by side with athletes from all over the continent. The leading-up to this season had some setbacks, but I am very happy that I managed to be on the podium in both championships again and making my country proud’.

Cyprian Dalli, President of the Malta Triathlon Federation expressed his congratulations to Hannah Pace and the rest of the Maltese Team in the championships. He thanked the Maltese Olympic Committee for the funding towards the Federation which made these participations possible and also the European Triathlon Union for holding such electrifying continental Championships.

The rest of the team had some very positive results as well. National Champion Keith Galea ended his race in the Standard Distance in a very creditable 6th place while Michelle Vella Wood finished in a prestigious 7th place in her category. Also competing in the Standard Distance were Maltese Triathletes Suzanne Farrugia and Maria Vella-Galea.
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The next international appointment for the Malta Triathlon Federation will be this weekend where Hannah Pace, Keith Galea and David Agius-Lia will be competing in the Mediterranean Triathlon Championships which will be held in the Catalan sea-side resort of Altafulla.

The Malta Triathlon Federation, in its continuous quest to offer the best of possibilities and opportunities to the athletes of the Malta Youth Triathlon Academy - MYTA, has established an agreement with the European Triathlon Union to have its promising athletes attending international youth training camps to improve their level of play. In the past 4 years, there were already 10 different young triathletes who participated in these training camps.

This year is no different as the young 'enfante prodige' of Maltese youth traithlon, Nikol Micallef was joined by MYTA coach Barry Farrugia in an international youth triathlon training camp in Alicante, Spain. This was not the first time for Micallef to attend such a camp as he has already been selected for a similar stage in Tiszaújváros, Hungary last summer. Micallef has been excelling not only in multisport races, but also in the single sport competitions, especially in cycling. During his sessions with the MYTA, Micallef is trained under the attentive eye of Barry Farrugia who is a Level 2 licenced triathlon coach and who is part of the coaching team at the Academy.

Micallef and Farrugia joined a team of around 30 other youth athletes and coaches from all over Europe in the training camp which was held in Alicante, Spain.

Micallef states that 'I was very excited when I learned that I will be attending this camp, and more so that I would be accompanied by my MYTA coach, Barry. My family made sure everything was prepared to perfection for this opportunity. When we arrived in Alicante I was astonished not only with the number of athletes participating but more so with the high-quality of my counterparts. We were training practically three times a day, like professional athletes. We would start the day with a swimming session followed by a run. Then we usually went cycling in the late afternoon. The highlight of the camp was cycling inside a velodrome! It was a dream come true for me!'

On his side, Coach Farrugia remarked that 'it was a great experience having the possibility to coach a splendid group of athletes and sharing the knowledge of triathlon-training with the other coaches. I am truly grateful for the opportunity that the Federation and MYTA gave Nikol and myself, and I looking forward to share all I've learnt to the MYTA athletes in our training sessions'.

The Malta Youth Triathlon Academy - MYTA currently trains 35 athletes of various ages between 7 and 15. Training is done primarily at the Kirkop Sports Complex and the National Pool Complex and athletes have three sessions a week. The MYTA project is supported heavily by SportMalta and is part of the latter's sports-programmes offered in its premises.

MYTA will be once again recruiting new young athletes from 7 years upwards for the summer 2017 programme. More information can be obtained via info@triathlonmalta.org and 79037933, or by visiting the official MYTA facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/MYTAtriMLT

The 29th Edition of the Malta National Duathlon Championship, sponsored by Eurosport Malta, saw the fifth triumph of Keith Galea (the fourth consecutive one) and the first ever Duathlon title for Margaret Spiteri in a very exciting and strongly-fought race.

The Malta Triathlon Federation set up the stage once again at Mtarfa as in 2015, with a tough but scenic route that saw athletes running the first 8 Kms through Mtarfa, Rabat and Mdina, followed by 27 Kms of cycle and a final short and gruelling run of 4 Kms.

In the male race, the defending champion, Keith Galea of B'Kara St. Joseph Sports Club, was determined to keep his title by setting the rhythm which immediately set him afield from competition apart from a group of athletes who was hot on his heels through all Run 1, formed by the Pembroke Athleta trio Shaun Galea, David Agius Lia and Brian Magri together with Spaniard Andres Bernal. The five of them entered Transition One together, with more than a minute over the chasing group. During the cycling segment, Keith Galea pushed hard to open a gap and managed to enter Transition Two with an18 second lead which would see him retaining his title for yet another year in a finish time of 1 hour,  26 minutes and  44 seconds. Under 20 Shaun Galea was second after registering the fastest Run 2 of the day, with Bernal grabbing the last spot on the podium.

In the female race, the battle was on mmainly between Hannah Pace of Pembroke Athleta and Margaret Seguna of Mellieħa A.C. who were both vying for their first every national Duathlon title. Seguna's strengths rested on the two runs while Pace registered the fastest bike segment, but finally it was Seguna who came out victorious in a time of 1 hours 36 minutes and 45 seconds, with Pace grabbing second place and a hard-fighting Michelle Vella Wood in third place.

In the Age Categories, Shaun Galea topped the Under 20 while Neil Markham was first in the Under 23. The Masters Categories saw David Agius Lia, David Cushing, David Galea, Brian Magri and Victor Calvagna topping the Over 35, 40, 45, 45, 50 and 55 categories, while Suzanne Farrugia was first female Over 55.

Through its Malta Youth Triathlon Academy (MYTA), the Malta Triathlon Federation organised a series of 4 races for kids and youths immediately after. These were very well attended with 40 athletes between 6 and 15 years taking part. In Race 1, MYTA athletes Julienne Woods and Max Spiteri Fiteni took the top spots. Isaac Bonnici of Agones SFC and Aurora Gafa' of MYTA won Race 2, while Gabriel Bonnici of Agones SFC and Emilia Galdes of Mosta Cycling Club took the titles in Race 3. In Race 4, for youth aged 14 and 15, it was a double success for MYTA as Nikol Micallef and Maria Schembri finished first.

The races and the championship was sponsored by Eurosport Malta, with whom the MTF has reach an agreementfor partnership and is now recognised as the official apparel provider of the Federation and its teams.

Shortly after the race, Cyprian Dalli, President of Triathlon Malta expressed his satisfaction by stating that 'it was the perfect start for the mutlisport season, with many athletes of all ages, parents, coaches, administrators, volunteers and helpers coming together for the love of sports! This augurs well for our endevours for the rest of the season and for the years to come'.

The Malta Triathlon Federation expressed its gratitude to Eurosport Malta, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Research, Innovation, Youth & Sport, the Local Councils of Mtarfa, Mdina and Rabat, the Malta Police Force, Transport Malta, the Local Enforcement System Agency, the Malta Red Cross, Magri Cycles, San Michel Table Water, Gatorade Sports Drink, Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports club, the ARRTS Electronic Timing System, and all the volunteers, helpers and made this event possible.

The craze for long distance triathlon is a worldwide phenomenon which has taken the multisport world by storm. Triathlon races are in themselves a test of endurance and fitness perhaps unrivalled in modern sports. Long-distance triathlons (branded under names such as Ironman, Challenge and a myriad other twists of the event-titles) are the ultimate feat of tenacity and stamina, which sees an athlete challenging himself to hours of continuous racing at high intensity.
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This phenomenon is not something alien in Malta, and no other Maltese athlete epitomises the feats of long-distance triathletes as the Maltese Ironman, Nicky Farrugia.

Farrugia was one of the pioneers of Maltese Triathlon as he started to race in 1988. Farrugia made this move after an impressive career in long-distance swimming which culminated in his legendary swims from Sicily to Malta in 1985 where he successfully completed this feat in 30 hours and 17 minutes and the 1989 crossing of the English Channel in 12 hours and 40 minutes.

In need of a new sporting challenge Nicky took to triathlon where he was dominated the first half of the 1990s by winning the National Duathlon title in 1993, the National Triathlon Championships in 1990, 1992 and 1995 and the title of Triathlete Of The Year in 1991 and 1995.

Following these successful years, Farrugia turned his focus on long distance triathlons. He become the first ever Maltese to race an Ironman triathlon race which consists of a swim of almost 4 kilometres followed with a 180 kilometre bike ride and finished off with a full marathon of 42 kilometres. His first long-distance triathlon in the Netherlands was a trailblazer not just for Farrugia's flare with these races, but also for the local community of triathletes who steadily started to venture into endurance triathlon.

Farrugia's Ironman reputation continued to grow as he became the first Maltese triathlete to go sub 10 hours finish time and also the first Maltese to successfully race a Double-Ironman ultra distance race in the old format which consists of a full iron-distance triathlon done back-to-back after an initial full iron-distance triathlon.

Nicky Farrugia is also the holder of the stunning Maltese record of long-distance triathlons under his belt as he successfully finished his staggering 24th such race only some months ago in Israel, where he capped his performance by claiming second place in his Age Group.

Nicky Farrugia has been recognised as one of the most important Maltese athletes ever and he also received the highest local sporting award when he was crowned as the Sportsman Of The Year in 1989. More recently, Farrugia was inducted in the Maltese Olympic Committee's Hall of Fame.
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Nicky has words of praise for the efforts of the Malta Triathlon Federation to raise the level and develop the sport in Malta. 'Triathlon Malta today has done huge improvement from the early years . Of course the beginning was thanks to the first group of people who got it going with very limited resources. However today the Federation has a group of people whom under the helm of President Cyprian Dalli understand the needs of the athletes at all levels. This can be seen in the development programme of children and youths and the establishment of the Malta Youth Triathlon Academy-MYTA. The Federation is keen to encourage more foreign competition by its athletes. The number of affiliated clubs organise high-quality races and this resulted in a huge rise of competitors. I really like the fact that that triathlon is becoming huge and understood more and more in all levels and recognised by the national sporting authorities' states Farrugia, while concluding with a final appeal 'for us who spend a lot of time on our bikes and running on the streets, we tend to be very vulnerable for traffic accidents and bullying. It is important for drivers to keep a watchful eye for us athletes so that we all can share the road safely'

The Malta Triathlon Federation brought to a conclusion an exciting 2016 multisport season with an event to award the topmost athletes ranked in is annual Triathlete Of The Year (TOTY) points scheme. This system aims at awarding all athletes who take part in all the multisport events organised or sanctioned by the Federation during the season by points according to their classification in any given event. This therefore lay a strong emphasise on consistency throughout the season.

The 2016 calendar of multisport events consisted of 13 different events raging from sprint distance triathlons, to aquathlons, to duathlons and culminating in the National Triathlon Championships of last October. The final TOTY classification was rated on the best 9 points for each athlete, making this a hard-fought competition between athletes at all levels.

In the Male category, Keith Galea once again dominated the series by winning the series with a strong margin thus claiming the TOTY title for a record 8 times. In second place was Omar Said, a relative new-comer to the sport who also clinched the the Over 35 top spot. Neil Markham, one of the most promising young triathletes in circulation was close in third place and the overall winner of the Under 23 category.

In the Female list, it was once again Hannah Pace who topped the bill confirm her success in the 2015 TOTY. The second spot on the podium was grabbed by Lara Buttigieg after a very consistent season. Third place was won by the Gozitan Felicienne Mercieca on her second triathlon season.

The TOTY 2016 awards were presented to the first 10 places in each Gender as well as Age-Categories, as follows :

• Keith Galea: Triathlete of the Year 2016
• Hannah Pace : Triathlete of the Year 2016
• Omar Said : Second Overall& First Over 35
• Lara Buttigieg : Second Overall
• Neil Markham : Third Overall & First Under 23
• Felicienne Mercieca : Third Overall
• Shaun Galea : Fourth Overall
• Michelle Vella Wood : Fourth Overall & First Over 35
• James Cuschieri : Fifth Overall
• Suzanne Farrugia : Fifth Overall & First Over 50
• Alexander Schembri : Sixth Overall
• Anjelika Balzan Ruggier : Sixth Overall & First Under 23
• Kevin Muscat : Seventh Overall & First Over 45
• Claire Azzopardi Lane : Seventh Overall
• Kelvin Goodwin : Eighth Overall and First Over 40
• Nina Zammit : Eighth Overall
• Bernard Sant : Ninth Overall
• Karen Amato : Ninth Overall & First Over 40
• Kristjan Briffa : Tenth Overall
• Charmaine Sciberras : Tenth Overall
• Claudia Zammit : First Over 45
• Hadrian Bonello : First Over 50
• Anthony Fenech : First Over 55
• Joseph Cortis : First Over 60
• Marian Belsten : First Over 60

Moreover, the Malta Triathlon Federation also awarded special prizes to those athletes who managed to obtain prestigious international results throughout the season. These awards were presented to Rudolph Agius, Danica Bonello Spiteri, Lara Buttigieg, David Galea, Keith Galea, Hannah Pace, Margaret Seguna, Fabio Spiteri and Michelle Vella Wood.

A special award for Outstanding Sportmanship Behaviour was awarded to athlete Mark Lewis who, during the National Duathlon Championships in April, deliberated stopped his race to assist a fellow athlete who had an accident during the cycling segment.

A Life-Time Appreciation award was presented to Dermot Galea for his outstanding contribution to the development of Triathlon in Malta.
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Cyprian Dalli, President of the Malta Triathlon Federation, thanked all athletes for making 2016 a year to remember. He said that this year saw more than 200 different athletes taking part in at least one race and this was a huge record for the sport of Triathlon in Malta. He expressed his gratitude to all the members of the Executive Board, the Council and the affiliated clubs for their constant hard work for the benefit of the sport and its athletes.