National Duathlon Championships - a day of mixed feelings

This morning we had the National Duathlon Championship of the Coast Road racing course. We had a very good turn out of 46 participants, a record in itself. For me it was a day of mixed feelings, on one side I had the race and on the other I was thinking about a friend we have lost last Friday - Micheal Aquilina. He was a teacher, lecturer, and friend to me. A person who will be very hard to replace. A person unique in his own way of doing things, and his dedication to sport is something rare is this country. I thought to myself that if I managed to win this race I would dedicate it to him

We started the 5km opening run at a very hard pace, too hard for me I thought after about 1km. The main contenders for the race were Keith (my brother), Mark Zammit, Brian Magri, George Vella and Fabio Spiteri, the latter unfortunately was injured on the day and had to miss the running section opting for the relay bike leg. I kept my own pace as I knew that in a duathlon its easy to cook yourself on the first run although on the other hand I couldn't afford to lose a lot of time.

At transition I was around a minute off the pace. I was confident that I could do a strong bike leg and that's what I went out for. I pushed the pace and caught Keith, Mark and Brian after a lap and a half. It wasn't easy at all but the legs were turning well. Keith was the only one to keep close but I managed to open a small gap on him before T2.

After the change over I was out running the last 3km but something was not quite right. Both my calves cramped just after going out of transition area. I had to stop briefly to stretch, but after that all was OK. I felt much better in the second run and also could push the pace.

Approaching the finish line I dedicated my win to Michael. Michael, was my PE teacher in Form 3 and after Br. Jimmy and Manuel was a big influence in my sports career, and later on was my lecturer and friend at university. Farewell Mike, will miss you and I hope to make good use of what I learned from you.

Tour of Malta

Last weekend I completed my 4th Tour of Malta. As usual it was a great experience. When you are training for triathlon its always interesting to compete in an individual sport to test yourself on that particular discipline with the athletes of that sport. This year the competition was quite tough. We had cyclists coming from Sicily, Italy, Spain, Uk and Holland. All very strong teams. I was the only cyclist representing my club B'kara St. Joseph, so as regards team work I was left on my own, although along the way I did find some help and put in my share of work as well.

The Tour started with a 33km Time trail. I was looking for a solid time. I finished the first day with 7th overall and a very good 3rd Maltese with only a 7sec gap from first place. My average was 41.6km/hr which for the windy conditions it was such a great performance and boost for me. If I recall well, this is the best average I have kept on this course, even when compared to the 2 year spell I did as a cyclist. Certainly with regards to cycling I am at a good stage in my preparation.

The second day of the tour was an 86km road race, 10 laps round the San Martin course. I was hoping to hold on to my 3rd Maltese placing but the opening laps were too hard for me. I am lacking a lot when it comes to change of pace and attacks. This of course is due to the fact that I don't include any of this sort of specific training in my programme, so I suffered a lot. I managed though to hold on the a group of around 8 cyclists, 5 of whom were Maltese. We shared the load together and finished around 9 mins off the pace from the leaders. At the end of the day I was lying in 4th position in the Maltese ranking.

The third and last day was a 65km road race in Gozo. I decided to travel on Friday night so that I have a good night sleep before the stage. My plan was to do a good warm up and do a good race to move up the ranking. Unfortunately once again the opening laps proved to be fatal. I couldn't get the hang of it. Once I was left on my own, I started pushing like mad and gaining positions. Seriously I never felt so strong on the bike and it was rather frustrating that once I was left at the back I was cycling much faster then the group in front of me, but the gap was so big that I could never close it. In the end I closed the stage in around 20th position and 7th Maltese.

In the general classification I finished 4th Maltese and 21st overall. I am very happy with my performance and am looking forward to a good performance this weekend at the Malta Duathlon Championships.

A special thank-you goes to my parents who helped me a lot in the first two days on the tour, my girl friend Johanna for her help in the third and last day, and her constant support and to our club secretary Euchar who did 3 days in the sun taking everyone's splits + shouting along everything i passed by!!

Dermot