1st in the opening race of the B’Kara SJ Tri Series

Hi Everyone

On the 8^th June I took part in the opening race of the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series series which I won for six times in my career. Being the Defending champion of this series, I wanted to start a series on a good note. However I got sick two weeks before the race. The day after I returned from Avola, I got sick. I had gastro enteritis and it took me around two weeks to get back to normal. I not only lost a lot of training but I had to miss the Glasgow Test Race of the Commonwealth Games as I was not fit to compete.

I knew that it was going to be a difficult race from the start as I was not 100% of my form. The race was held near the Freeport at B’bugia. At the beginning of the week of the race, my legs were still tired and I was not feeling the usual strength. I started the race at a very fast pace in the swim. I pushed a lot in order to open a good gap. I was feeling strong at the moment and fast. In fact I covered the 750m swim in 10mins which is a very good time and setting the fastest swim of the day.

The cycle route was very different from the usual coast road route. The 20km bike segment was an up and down hill to repeat for 4 times. I was feeling strong still but I did not started all out as we had to repeat the hill 4 times and wanted to save the legs. I started really pushing from the second lap and was increasing my advantage after every lap. I covered the 20km in 32.27.

The 5km running route was completely flat. I was looking for a fast time especially after a good swim and bike. I started well but by time my energy levels were decreasing. The 2 weeks of sickness were taking their toll. I tried to hang on and tried to increase my lead. Still managed to set the fastest run of the day and went on to win the race in 1.02.25, with 90sec advantage from 2^nd placed athlete and 2mins in front of 3^rd placed athlete.

I am pleased with my performance, especially the swim and the bike. Not so happy with the run but considering I was coming from 2 weeks of sickness, and my body was still in his recovery period I think it was a good race. I would like to thank my brother coach Dermot Galea, my swimming coach Catalin Stan, my parents and my wife’s parents for their support. Thanks so much to my sponsors Garmin Malta, BBB bike Parts Malta, Jaycee Malta, Malta Challenge Marathon, and Starbene Shop of Mosta for their support, my club Birkirkara St Joseph for their support.

Last but not least, big thanks goes to my wife Elizabeth for being by my side all the time leading up to such an important event for me. Here support is fundamental for me and without her I cannot produce such a great performance as I did. Here presence during races gives me so much comfort and strength that I will be able to express myself to the best of my abilities in races.

That’s all for now

Yours in Sport  

Keith

I’m IN. Selected for Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Hi Everyone,

Finally I made it. I am selected for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games which will start on the 23^rd July. I am so happy that after 3 years of hard training I made it to represent Malta in such a high level event.  I started training for this selection since November 2011 and from then on I never looked back. The training I started doing was very different and harder than I used to do before. Thanks to the KMS 20/20 Elite Scheme I started training 3 times a day reaching a training load of 30 hours per week.

During these years I improved a lot and established myself as the top Maltese triathlete by winning  2 Triathlon titles, 2 Duathlon title, 2 Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series, a Triathlete of the year award, 1 MOC Bronze Award and 1 MOC Special Merit Award. I also managed to establish myself as one of the top Maltese long Distance Runners, Cyclists and also in open water swimming.

Thanks to the training I have been, My Results abroad improved a lot. I was crowned Under 25 European Triathlon Champion in 2012, Bronze Medallist in the European Triathlon Championships in 2013 (AG 25-29 CATEGORY), 2^ND overall Sicily Duathlon Championships (1^st under 25 category), 1^st in San Vito lo capo Triathlon, 1^st in Cyprus International Triathlon, 8^th in Ecternach Luxembourg TCSSE, 22^nd in Gamrin Cernobbio Triathlon, 35^th in World Triathlon Championships (130^th overall out of 1500) and 5^th in Mediterranean Cup triathlon 1 Series in Avola

During these last three years I also managed to break numerous records. I set a new National Record of an Olympic Distance Triathlon of 1hr 57mins, I broke the Course Record of the Club’s Sprint Distance Triathlon which was set by my brother in 2006 and also broke the Course Record of the National Triathlon Championships which was set by my brother way back in 2002

Now am focused on the Commonwealth Race which will be on Thursday 24^th July. The Race venue is Strathclyde Country Park. I am really looking forward for this race as it’s a dream come true being on the same starting line of Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee and His brother Jonny who is a bronze medallist at the 2012 Olympics. I promise that I will train much harder than before in order to produce a great performance in Glasgow.

This Target was achieved thanks to my brother coach Dermot Galea, my swimming coach Catalin Stan, my parents and my wife’s parents for their support. Thanks so much to my sponsors Garmin Malta, BBB bike Parts Malta, Jaycee Malta, Malta Challenge Marathon, and Starbene Shop of Mosta for their support, my club Birkirkara St Joseph. Thanks a lot to the Malta Triathlon Federation who played an important role to get Malta Triathlon in these Games. A Big thanks to the Malt Olympic Committee for believing in my abilities. Last but not least a big thanks goes to my wife Elizabeth for being by my side throughout these years helping me to achieve this lifelong target.  . Here support is fundamental for me and without I am not the good athlete that I am today and without here I would not have achieved this qualification.

The Journey was long and tough. I had to go through many challenges but I never lost faith. I never gave up and never stop believing in my abilities. As Rocky Balboa says “It isn’t how hard you hit, it’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards, it’s how much you can take and keep moving forwards, that’s how winning is done”

That’s all for now

Yours in Sport

Keith

5th overall in first edition of Triathlon1 Series

Hi Everyone

On the 18^th May I was on the starting line of the first edition of the Triathlon1 Series organized by the Mediterranean Triathlon Federation in conjunction with the European Triathlon Union. The first Race of this series was organized in the Small town of Avola in Sicily. I was very looking forward to this race as I really like racing in Sicily

Unfortunately the weather was not that ideal for us athletes. Weather was awful. It rained all morning which made the technical bike course very slippery and dangerous. This fact was a major drawback as I did not know the course so well compared to the other athletes who raced in Avola in the previous editions. I was very frustrated and nervous before the race as I knew I could not give everything on the bike due to the slippery roads. It was a very high profile race as this race attracted a lot of professional athletes who race regularly for the Italian Triathlon Team. I knew that it was going to be a difficult and a very fast race. I started well in the swim covering the 1.2km swim in 15minutes, coming out from the water in 7^th place just a few seconds behind the main group

On the bike I did my best to try and get in the group but the roads were too slippery. We had 4 laps round the town of Avola with some sharp corners. I managed to enter in the main group in the last lap and attacked  immediately to come in T2 in front of the group.The pace they set in the beginning of the running segment was amazing. So fast. They opened a 20m gap. I really pushed hard to get into the group. I managed to finish the race in 5^th Place just 30seconds behind 2^nd place. I was very surprised with my running time as I covered the 5km segment in a good time of 16.55 which is my fastest run ever in a sprint triathlon.

I am very pleased with my result. If it was not raining I could have done much better and could have fought for the whole race for a podium race. The times in both swimming and running are personal bests which means that all the hours of training are paying off. This is the best result I achieved in an Elite men's race with a strong professional field. I hope in the future will have other opportunities to race with such athletes to continue to improve my level

I would like to thank my brother coach Dermot Galea, my swimming coach Catalin Stan, my parents and my wife’s parents for their support. Thanks so much to my sponsors Garmin Malta, BBB bike Parts Malta, Jaycee Malta, Malta Challenge Marathon, and Starbene Shop of Mosta for their support, and my club Birkirkara St Joseph  for their support. Last but not least, big thanks go to my wife Elizabeth for being by my side all the time leading up to such an important event for me. Here support is fundamental for me and without her I cannot produce such a great performance as I did. Here presence during races gives me so much comfort and strength that I will be able to express myself to the best of my abilities in races.

That’s all for now

Yours in Sport

Keith