Cyprian Dalli was recently elected, unanimously, as the new President of the Malta Triathlon Association, succeeding Manuel Azzopardi who was at the helm of the organisation for 14 years.
During his term, a number of initiatives were developed which enabled the sport to grow and enable its athletes to benefit from a number of activities, both locally and abroad.
“The past few years have seen a large growth in terms of athlete participation as well as very satisfactory results from our athletes participating in various races abroad. A solid foundation has been laid and I am looking forward to building further on this foundation” said Cyprian Dalli. “The association is very fortunate to have a strong, experienced and enthusiastic team to work with and I am confident that together we will keep up the momentum our sport is currently enjoying”.
The new team is made up of Cyprian Dalli (President), Oswald Spiteri (Treasurer), Angele Cremona (Administrative Secretary), Maria Vella-Galea (Public Relations and Marketing Officer), Eugene Warrington (member), Euchar Camilleri (B’Kara St. Joseph Sports Club representative), Andrew Fleri Soler (Pembroke Athleta Athletics and Triathlon Club representative), Greta Treeby (St Patrick’s Athletic Club representative) and Dermot Galea (national coach).
The Malta Triathlon Association has been instrumental in introducing the first ‘Triathlon Championships of the Small States of Europe’ in 2000, which were held annually ever since between Malta and the countries of Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco and San Marino, and wherein Malta has also enjoyed regular podium placing, claiming the championship on a number of occasions.
Success abroad has not only been registered by the national team but also by individual athletes who take part, out of their own initiative, in races abroad ranging from Challenge Duathlons, Olympic distance triathlons and extreme events such as Ironman races which have become very popular with Maltese triathletes.
“Our aim is to continue to foster this enthusiasm among our athletes” continued Cyprian Dalli.
The first event for the 2012 season will be the Duathlon championships consisting of a 5k run, 30k cycle and 3k run on Saturday 17 March. More details will be published on www.maltatriathlon.org and on its Facebook page, or can be obtained via Maria Vella-Galea, Public Relations and Marketing Officer on [email protected].