Maltese Youth Triathletes sharpening their skills in Hungary

The Malta Triathlon Federation, in its continuous efforts to establish triathlon with the younger generations, have offered a golden opportunity to three of its most promising youths: Neil Markham, Shaun Galea and Nina Zammit, to sharpen their triathlon skills by attending a Triathlon Training Camp in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary. This camp is organised by the European Triathlon Union (ETU) and will be directed by some of the most renowned youth-coaches in Europe. The camp will see the Maltese Triathletes train along some of the best triathletes of their generation coming from all over Europe.

Accompanying the Maltese trio is Coach Marthese Fava, who has been forming part of the Malta Youth Triathlon Academy - MYTA for the past year, during which she also obtained a Level 1 Triathlon Coaching certificate from the International Triathlon Union.

In order to have the young athletes garner more racing experience at an international level, the Malta Triathlon Federation made arrangements for the trio to participate in the races across the weekend in the same Hungarian town. Zammit and Galea took part in the ETU Junior European Cup while Markham fought his way through the ranks of elite athletes in the ITU Junior World Cup.

All three athletes were very happy after the races and radiant about the possibility to race in this high-level of international stage. Zammit stated that 'it was amazing experience which helped me a lot to understand wher I need to improve in order to take my game to the next level'. Galea was on the same wavelength and stated that 'I knew I could do better, but this was my first experience at this level and I am happy with my performance and looking forward for the training camp now.'

Markham, who unexpectedly had the opportunity to race among the Elite,  'I am really grateful to the Malta Triathlon Federation for this opportunity. Racing Elite in an ITU race was a dream and now it had become a reality. It was a learning experience for me and a really amazin experience.'

President of the Triathlon Malta, Cyprian Dalli expressed the Federation's feelings and stated that 'We are all very proud of Shaun, Nina and Neil for what they managed to do this weekend. This was a historical day for Triathlon Malta as we had the first ever youths participating in such high-level races, and they all produced some remarkable results. The MTF would also like to express its gratitude to Coach Marthese Fava for taking care of the contingent and the European Triathlon and the International Triathlon Union for their support, guidance and opportunities.'