On Easter Saturday I took part in the Mellieha AC Sprint Duathlon . Held in Dingli, the race consisted of a 5km
run, a 20km cycle followed by a 2.5km run. Before the race I was going through a very tough period. Despite having fought persistent illness for the past months, I still decided to do the race
I set myself a slower pace in the initial 5k run which saw Spanish
triathlete Andres Bernal first into transition. Barnal was closely followed by Pembroke
Athleta duo David Agius Lia and Shaun Galea. I entered transition in 4th
place a few seconds later. Following a very good transition I paced myself well in the bike segment and in
the fifth kilometre i was leading the race.
Keeping up my pace was only Shaun Galea, who followed me until the last hill when I threw in my last attack and managed to open a gap. The attack
continued giving me a 20 second advantage into transition. I gave all I had left in the 2.5km run and managed to increase my lead to win his third race of the season in a time of
1 hour 29 seconds. Shaun Galea,
nevertheless gave a very fine performance to cross the finish line in second
place in a time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 9 seconds, whilst James Cuschieri finished third in 1 hour, 1 minute and 55 seconds.
I am very pleased that I won the race. It was another hard victory as Shaun was on form today. I had to reduce my training due to persistent illness but this victory gives me courage to keep on fighting my illness and it proves that I am recovering slowly. I was very cautious in the first run. Not knowing how my body will react i decided to keep a slower pace and was getting better and better after. The legs were responding well on the bike and had a very strong 2nd run. Now I hope to recover quickly so that I can resume to my normal training schedule
I would like to thank my coaches Dermot Galea and Ivan Rozhnov. my parents and my wife's family, my nutritionist Johanna Galea and my masseur Owen Attard I am very grateful for the support provided by my club Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club, Malta Triathlon Federation, the
Maltese Olympic Committee, SportMalta as well as Garmin Malta, BBB Cycling
Malta, Jaycee Malta, Team Barry Malta International Challenge Marathon, DGtri.com, Scott
bikes, Saracino Cafe, emvigee pr & marketing, Starbene 24/7, Lucida
Laundry.Most of all a big thanks goes to my wife Elizabeth and my little baby Elise for their great support and patience with me especially during the last three month. Their support for very fundamental
for me.
That's all for now
Yours in Sports
Keith
