National champion Dermot Galea took part in the second edition of the 70.3 Ironman at Pescara, finishing a very creditable 13th in his age group.

The race consisted of a 1.9-kilometre swim, a 90-kilometre cycle and a 21.1-kilometre run. The Birkirkara St. Joseph triathlete had a very strong swim coming out of the water in 32 minutes in 13th place in his age-group.

He cycled the 90 kilometres, hilly bike route in two hours 49 minutes, slipping to the 20h place in his category.

In the ensuing half-marathon run, he again recovered his 13th place, running the 13 kilometres in one hour, 30minute.

His total time was four hours 57 minutes finishing 13th in his age group and 76th overall from a field of 1,950 participants. Galea took part in this race in preparation for his forthcoming main race of this season - Ironman Wales with distances twice those of the Pescara race.

On his return from Italy, Galea said that he was very pleased with his performance, and considering that he sustained a strong pace in the race’s half-marathon held in the mid-day high temperatures, it boosted his confidence for the run-up to the Welsh event.

Galea was accompanied by Giuseppe Ferraro of Starbene who took care of all the logistics. The following weekend, Galea went to England on an invitation to conduct an open water swimming coaching session at Bosworth Lake. Galea’s next appointment will be another 70.3 Ironman in Antwrep Belgium in July.