National Triathlon Championships

While in the Women's category, Danica Bonello Spiteri is the most likely candidate for the top honour, having won it for the past 3 years and 8 times in all, the Men's category is going to produce a new name. With Dermot Galea, nine times Maltese Champion, absent from this year's competition, the person who will lift the trophy at the end of Sunday's race can be either Keith Galea, fresh from a 3-month training and racing camp in the UK, or Mark Zammit, who himself has just returned from a 1-week Training Camp in Cefalu, Sicily, courtesy of the MOC-CONI Protocol.

This Season's B'Kara St Joseph Triathlon Series have attracted a record number of participants, some of whom are new to sports, let alone triathlon. Ths year's Championships will be a test for the organsers whose resources – both human and in terms of equipment – will be tested to the limit.

Thanks to the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), two top UK athletes, Michelle Scott and Mark Sykes, who have represented Britain in their respective Age Groups in the World Championships Final in Hungary early in September, will be doing battle with the locals for the top honours. The MTA has also invited top editors and journalists from a leading Japanese triathlon magazine, Triathlon Trip, with the intention that next year's race will attract triathletes from Japan.

Triathlon Malta will be assisted by Joseph F. Spiteri & Co. Ltd (local agents for Kee Klamp) and B'Kara St Joseph Sports Club for the putting up of the Transition Area, while the Championships have been sponsored by The Plum Tree Restaurant, Qawra, Pharma MT Ltd and Kristal Water.