Galea and Pace crowned Birkirkara St. Joseph Sprint Triathlon Champions

In what has been a relatively consistent Series, it came as no surprise as  Birkirkara St. Joseph’s Keith Galea clinched yet another title this season following his wins in the National Aquathlon and Sprint Triathlon Championships.
 
Galea yet again performed brilliantly to secure the Sprint Triathlon Series top spot once again after winning the fourth and last race.  Similarly, fellow Club triathlete Graham Borg secured his fourth second placing on the podium. Borg who had a great season, performing exceptionally well, especially in the cycling segment. 

Third placed in this last race of the Series was Agones SFC Fabio Spiteri, who returned to the third place on the podium after losing his place in the third race of the series to Birkirkara St. Joseph’s young athlete Shaun Galea. Interestingly, in a similar twist of fate, it was a sprint and photo finish that determined the placing yet again this time, with the more experienced Fabio Spiteri taking the better of Galea.    Therefore the winners of the final race of the Series were also crowned winners of the overall Sprint Triathlon Series.

In the females category, Athleta Pembroke’s Hannah Pace returned to her winning ways after having missed out on first place and National Sprint Triathlon Championship Title to Birkirkara St. Joseph’s Michelle Vella Wood in the previous race.  Pace made up for this disappointment by improving her timings in the bike and run segment substantially to win the fourth race and the overall Series with an margin of twenty nine seconds over Vella Wood. 

Vella Wood registered considerable improvements in her swim, shaving off thirty seconds off the time registered in the previous race.  Mellieha AC Margaret Seguna was the third female to cross the finish line.  Seguna has also performed consistently well. Marked improvements where registered compared to previous years and also registered her personal best time on this course.
 
However, it was Hannah Pace, Margaret Seguna and Suzanne Farrugia were crowned overall winners, of the females category of the Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club Sprint Triathlon Series. This was due to the criteria for winning the Series was for those triathletes who took part in all the races of the series.
 
Relay Teams
 
During the series the Club welcomed seven teams  who took part in a relay. The winners of the fourth and last race of the series were Luke Camilleri Cuschieri (Swim), Pierre Borg (Cycle) and Matthew Rota (Run). The same team were winners of the third race and clinched second place in the first and second races of the series. The latter two races having been won by Jean Claude Cutajar (Swim),  Steve Sciberras (Cycle)  and Andrew Grech (Run). It is interesting to see which of the athletes taking part in relay races eventually graduate to full triathlon races, as this is a trend that is often seen.
 
A Prize Giving Ceremony was held immediately after the Race when medals and trophies were presented to the winners by Mr. Etienne Bonello (BBB Bike Parts) and Mr. Mark Gaglione (Medcomms /Garmin Malta) as sponsors of the Series and Mr. Raymond Grech, President of the Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club.

The Birkirkara St. Joseph Sprint Triathlon Series wrapped up a hectic summer season for the Club which is celebrating forty years of sport this year. From it’s humble beginnings in football, the club has seen continuous activity throughout the years.  The introduction and subsequent successes from of sports like athletics, triathlon and open water swimming put Birkirkara St. Joseph Sprint Triathlon firmly on the map.

Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club summer of sports was made possible through the assistance and support of  BBB/ Buff Malta, The Cyclist (San Gwann), Festina Watches, Klikk Computers,,  Perskindol and Garmin Malta.
 
More information on Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club can be found on www.bkarastjoseph.com