Birkirkara St. Joseph’s Under 25 European Triathlon Champion Keith Galea produced an outstanding performance in the San Vito Lo Capo Olympic Distance Triathlon in Sicily last weekend, winning the race with a wide margin.

Following his success in the Sicilian Duathlon Championships and in the European Triathlon Championships a few weeks ago, the Birkirkara St. Joseph triathlete was the top favourite to win the race.

However he still had to face some stiff opposition from Marco Cumbo, who won gold in the 2008 Sicily-Malta Friendship Games, and Fabio Pruiti Cariello.

The swim was a 2.3km 2-lap course in San Vito Lo Capo’s main beach. Galea anchored himself in the leading pack, thus assuring himself of staying in a good group for the bike segment of the race.

However, after coming out of the water, Galea had a very fast swim-to-bike transition and went on to tackle the cycle with the rest in his wake. The cycle circuit was a 10-lap course around the village.

Realising that it was not to his advantage to cycle on his own in rather windy conditions, Galea waited for the ensuing group, in order to work through this segment with the rest.

However, this group could not get into any rhythm, so much so that it slowed down and got caught by other trailing triathletes. However at this stage Galea decided to stay in the group and reserve all his energies for the final run.

Following another fast transition, Galea surged immediately into the lead of the 11-kilometre run.  By this time, temperatures were soaring. This, however, did not deter the Saints’ champion from sustaining a fast pace throughout, which carried him to the finish line, leading the field. He finished in 2 hours, 13 minutes, a massive five minutes faster than second placed Fabio Pruiti.  Marco Cumbo finished in third place. 

Galea’s next international commitment will be this weekend in the Cyprus International Triathlon at Limassol.