Neil Agius and Davina Mangion won their respective categories in the gruelling four kilometre race organised recently at St Paul’s Bay by the Birkirkara St Joseph Club before the forthcoming 5.5 kilometre Gozo-Malta Open Water Swimming Challenge.
A staggering 68 swimmers finished the longest race in the Club’s Open Water Swimming Series.
While Agius’ participation in the Gozo-Malta channel race is still dubious, Mangion is clearly one of the favourites to lift the trophy at Marfa on Saturday. Present for this race was Dr. Austin Sammut, President of the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, who gave the signal for the start of this race.
In the males’ event, Neil Agius, Jack Stanney, David Zammit and Simon Zammit spearheaded the field around the 1,000 metre lap. As the race progressed, Agius started to dominate, leaving the rest in his wake.
However the performances by Stanney and David Zammit, both under 17 years of age, were stunning, with the former managing to hit the finish buoy well under one hour.
Half way through the race veteran Simon Zammit was clearly out of the reckoning, and with Agius opening a two-minute gap up front, the race for second place was also well within the grasp of Stanney.
Agius finished the race in 53 minutes 48 seconds, Stanney was second in 55 minutes 41 seconds, and David Zammit placed third in one hour 15 seconds. Luke Bonnici is leading the overall classification with a time of three hours 20 minutes 26 seconds.
The females’ race was a close duel between Davina Mangion and Angela Galea. At the end, the former won with just nine seconds to spare, missing the one hour barrier by 17 seconds. Galea finished in one hour 26 seconds. Nicole Cremona finished third in one hour 6 minutes 47 seconds. The overall leader in the females category is Isabelle Zarb with a time of three hours 32 minutes 31 seconds.
The final race in this Series will be held on Wednesday 2 September starting at 6pm on a distance of two kilometres.
Entry forms will be accepted up to half an hour prior to the start of the race.