London Next In Hili’s Sight

For the second year running, St. Patrick’s AC’s Carmen Hili will be taking part in the London Marathon with the aim of going below the three hour mark.

“In a way last year’s marathon was strange because it was very hot something that many athletes remarked about,” she said. “I did a time of 3:07 and overall I’m very pleased with that. However I’m aiming to do better and my dream is to be able to go do it in less than three hours.”

Hili described the London Marathon as “a very beautiful experience. Running with so many athletes and so many supporters along the route is a truly memorable experience.”

The winner of this year’s edition of the BMW Malta Marathon, Hili also won the recent Ronhill Dingli 10 that is organised by St. Patrick’s AC, a result that she wasn’t expecting.

“Given all the training that I’ve been putting in for the marathon, I wasn’t expecting anything special so it was quite pleasing to win and do so with a personal best.”

Carmen Hili is sponsored by www.enjoytherun.com and Ronhill.

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Spiteri Duo Claim Championships

Fabio Spiteri achieved a life-time dream when he won his first major race in Triathlon by clinching the title of National Duathlon Champion in the last few metres of the BBB Bike Parts National Duathlon Championships, held on Sunday 30 March at B’Bugia. Danica Spiteri also had a very tough race but in the end managed to hang on to the title she won last year.

On a mild, breezy, spring morning, 28 athletes set off for the start of the race, which saw them run 5km, cycle 27km and run again 3km. As anticipated, the trio Brian Magri, Keith Galea and Fabio Spiteri were going to challenge for the title which was up for grabs since last year’s champion, Dermot Galea, was still recovering from injury. It was Magri who had the fastest overall time of 16m:44s in the first run; however, in the cycle, Keith Galea quickly forged ahead to return to transition in first place; his advantage over Spiteri, however, proved to be too marginal to be effective as the latter quickly nullified it and went on to win in 1hr:10m:35s, with Galea finishing just 10 seconds behind and Magri a further 45 seconds adrift.

In the Women’s Race, Danica Spiteri’s advantage of 1 minute over Donatelle Callus at the end of the first run, proved to be insufficient as the latter went on to register the fastest cycle time of 48m:31s to reach transition 45 seconds ahead of her main rival. However, the last run proved once more to be decisive, as Spiteri again forged ahead to win the race in a time of 1hr:23m:38s, just 25 seconds ahead of second-placed Callus. Third place went to Michelle Wood who finished in a time of 1hr:31m:17s.

The Team Event was won by the Galea brothers, Johann (runner) and David (cyclist), who finished the race in a time of 1hr:08m:57s. The Senior category was won by Daniel Callus in 1hr:19m:47s.

At the end of the race, Etienne Bonello, local agent for BBB Bike Parts distributed the trophies to the winners in the various categories. The Malta Triathlon Association also wishes to thank its other sponsor, Kristal Water. The safety aspect of the race was in the hands of the medical staff of Saint James Hospital.

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