Malta Triathlon champion Keith Galea placed sixth overall and second in his age group (20-24 years) in this year’s Classic Bedford Triathlon in the UK. Galea had a good, solid swim covering the 1,600 metres in Bedford’s lake in 23 minutes, 37 seconds. At this stage the Birkirkara St. Joseph triathlete was in seventh place.

A couple of mishaps on the bike course, caused due to the non-traffic free routes and inefficient marshalling, hampered the local champion’s performance. However he still managed to climb a couple of places with a bike segment of one hour, six minutes, 9 seconds over the 42 kilometres.

His efforts to make up for lost time on the bike, did not help Galea’s cause in the final 10-kilometre run. His time of 37 minutes, 8 seconds in this segment, relegated him back to sixth place. It was here that he also lost the top spot in his age-group, finishing the race in two hours, eight minutes, 22 seconds.

One hundred and thirty five triathletes took part in this race which was won by Robert Brundish of the Tri London Club in a time of two hours, one minute, 45 seconds.

First woman to finish the race was Esther Rodriguez of the Cambridge Triathlon Club in two hours, 24 minutes, 11 seconds.