Winner of the BSJ Tri Series for the 5th time in my carrier

Hi Everyone

On the 16th September I took part in the last race of the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series. I was looking for a strong performance and a good time. Unfortunately it was a bit windy and it was a bit difficult to do a personal best. However I wanted to test myself again. This was the last triathlon before the National Championships and I wanted to see the effects of all the hard training done. Today I was determined to do a good swim. I have been swimming a lot lately, covering over 20km a week of swimming, going up and down the MFA Pool. I started the swim at a very fast pace and went into the lead immediately. I was feeling strong and although the sea was very choppy, I was feeling comfortable. Today I was determined to be the first triathlete out of the water. I managed to do so and surprisingly I swam the 750m in 11.09 which is the fastest swim from all the four races.

It was a windy day and I had to forget fast times on the bike. I was a bit frustrated as I was feeling strong and could have done a great time if weather permitted. I had the third best bike split of day covering the 20km in 30.10, however still maintained a good lead over my nearest rivals. I suffered a bit in the first kilometre of the 5km run as I felt my legs a bit heavy. I think because I had pushed big gears in those windy conditions. However my legs were feeling better after the first kilometre and managed to establish the fastest run of the day in 17.50 covering all the triathlon in exactly 1 hour thus winning the series for the 5th Time in my career. This was my 10th win of the season, winning it in style as managed to beat my nearest opponent by 2mins 30sec and 3rd athlete by 3.30.

A week after I participated in the attard 10km. I wasn’t expecting much from this race as I continued with my normal training programme but still was looking for a good performance. A race is a race and when I am on the start line, I always want to give everything I’ve got. I started leading the race together with St Patrick’s Jonathan Balzan. After 3km Balzan started to open a gap between us. Cautious not to burn myself, I kept my own pace and then was caught by Mario Grech of St Patrick and Atleta Pembroke’s Drew Lang. We stayed together until at the 7th kilometre I increased the pace and managed to surge out of the group to finish 2nd in 35minutes 10seconds, 38 seconds behind winner Jonathan Balzan of St Patrick’s in 34 minutes 33 seconds.

I am very pleased with these performances. I He used these races as part of my preparations for the National Triathlon Championships on the 7th October and with these results all seems on the right track to reach my peak in a week’s time. That’s all for now Yours in Sport Keith