Fabio Spiteri, a successful local athlete, will once again be participating in the nerve wrecking Ironman challenge on 21 May, this time in Lanzarote - known to be the world’s toughes.

This year Spiteri has decided to dedicate his efforts to generate funds for worthy causes namely Hope and Inspire. Hope is the social arm of Gift of Life Foundation which supports mothers in crisis pregnancies. Inspire is the foundation which works to see the complete inclusion of people with disabilities living in the community, in schools, the workplace and in recreation.

You may help Fabio raise these funds by sending an SMS with the word ‘Fabio’ to 50617359 to donate 2.33 euro or to 50618080 to donate 4.66 euro.

The Ironman challenge is a gruesome race consisting of a 3.8km swim, a 180km cycle and a 42 km run. Athletes tend to lose about 2 kilos during the race alone while burning some 8,000 calories. Nutrition is a critical aspect and athletes have to eat energy bars, fruits and glucose gels provided throughout the race in order to hike up energy levels that will have dropped during the exhausting trial as well as being given water every 5km.

The local athlete has prepared for this event as seriously as he always does; training intensely all year round and escalating it in the last three months to peak at the challenge itself.

His first successful Ironman challenge was last year. It was held in July in Austria where he clocked 9hr 52 minutes, thus placing among the top 50 athletes of his age group. This year he is aiming to be successful again.

Ironman Lanzarote is known to be the toughest Ironman in the world due to several long hills in the bike segment and the high winds that occur on the island all year round. Fabio’s main sponsors are Garmin Malta and The Cyclist (San Gwann) for Corractec.