Galea and Spiteri the winners at Mtarfa

On a typical wintry day, the Malta Triathlon Association held its 2008 season-opener last Sunday at the Mtarfa by-pass - a sprint duathlon which consisted of a 3.4km run, a 15km cycle and another 3.4km run.

It was clear from the start that the trio of frontrunners, Keith Galea, Brian Magri and Fabio Spiteri, would dictate the pace for the rest of the field.

In fact, they came in after the first run with a few seconds separating them.

In the cycle segment, Galea immediately pulled clear of his two pursuers, reaching the second transition 45 seconds ahead of his closest rival. In the final run, Brian Magri's whittling away at Galea's advantage was not enough to prevent the latter from winning the race in 51:23.

Magri came in just seven seconds behind. Spiteri was third in 53:08.

In the women's race, Danica Spiteri's dominance was uncontested as she came in from the first run in a time of 13:49, over two minutes ahead of Donatelle Callus.

Callus, however, had a better cycle time, but this was not enough to help her get close to Spiteri, who went on to have another fine run and win the race in 1:00:12. Callus was second in 1:03:22 and Debbie Caruana Dingli was third in 1:18:15.

The men's senior race was won by Daniel Callus, 58:04, ahead of Manuel Bezzina.

The association was assisted by Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club, Mtarfa Local Council, Kristal Water and the Plum Tree Restaurant. The safety aspect of the race was in the hands of St James Hospital.