The excitement is building for ultra-triathlete Fabio Spiteri as he gears up for an attempt to cycle around Sicily in under two days.
Speaking to Times of Malta after a training session in Pozzallo, Spiteri said he was looking forward to approaching the challenge head on.
“I’ve just came from a cycle and I’m looking forward to it now. I’m excited and feeling confident about it,” he said.
Spiteri will be attempting to complete a 1,000km cycle around Sicily in 48 hours, a route he has completed several times, with the aim of shaving another eight hours off his best time on the challenge.
This year Spiteri has upped the game: not only does he intend to beat his own personal time but he has set his sights on raising €50,000 in donations for animal shelters. Last year, he managed to complete the challenge in two days and eight hours while collecting €21,000.
It was his best time in the last six years that he has been undertaking the charity challenge. He will be giving up some basic comforts in order to achieve the goal.
“Basically, I’m not going to be sleeping, the plan is to keep going at night,” he said.
The weather looks good and he is going to be followed by a crew in a car and a motorcycle, as well as a few other cyclists.
Spiteri wants to pass on a substantial sum in donations to the 18 local animal shelters and one Sicilian shelter that the challenge will be supporting.
An animal lover with 11 pets at home, Spiteri recently adopted ‘Stevie Wonder’, a blind spaniel.
“There are so many great initiatives that raise money and awareness for good charities, but sometimes I feel that animals are a little forgotten,” Spiteri said.
The animal shelters he has been supporting for the last eight years are doing a lot of work to keep stray animals off the streets and in good health to find loving homes.But there are a lot of challenges, he added, such as the cost of vet bills and keeping the animals safe and fed.
“Everything costs money and these organisations subsist on donations.
”Encouraging people to seriously consider adopting a pet to help ease the burden of shelters, donating to his cause will help improve the conditions in some shelters, like the Association of Abandoned Animals, whose premises still lacks electricity.
“Everything we’re doing is for the animals and, with 19 shelters to support, I would really like to have a nice sum to give to every single one of them."
Donations can be made on Revolut: +356 99816248 and Paypal: rarmalta@gmail.com.You can follow Fabio’s journey live on https://track.mt/fabiolive and updates will be periodically uploaded to Facebook.
Donations can also be made at: Paypal: https://bit.ly/3DYvSNP SMS donations €2.33 | 50617312 €4.66 | 50618075 €6.99 | 50618923 €11.65 | 50619260 Bank Transfer BOV IBAN: MT40VALL22013000000050010082877