Fabio Spiteri has done it… and what a feat this is.
The veteran triathlete on Friday night became the first Maltese to complete a daunting Quintuple when crossing the finish line in Colmar, France.
Spiteri’s achievement is truly remarkable when one considers that he has managed to complete five successive ironman in the space of five days.
In fact, the 48-year-old completed the distance in a time of 111 hours 30 minutes and 57 seconds to place seventh overall among 16 participants.
Despite being plagued by swollen feet, a few blisters, and a huge struggle to run, Spiteri made use of his stamina and resilience to complete a very challenging and difficult course.
In fact, participants had to swim 19 kilometres, which is like swimming from Malta to Gozo three times, cycle a 900km route, which is equivalent to riding around Sicily, before finishing off with five full marathons for a distance of 211 kilometres.
In fact, Spiteri managed to swim the 19km leg in a time of seven hours and two minutes which placed him seventh overall.
Then he embarked on the cycling leg and Spiteri managed to complete the 900km route on Wednesday afternoon and is currently in fifth place with a combined time of 58 hours three minutes and 29 seconds.
Spiteri had one final leg, the 211km run and he managed to successfully complete the leg to achieve something unthinkable for a Maltese athlete so far.
For the 48-year-old this is his second attempt to complete a Quintuple. Two years ago he tried a similar feat but a stomach bug forced him to retire during the cycling leg.
The Quintuple has a double meaning for Spiteri as apart from the satisfaction of reaching new technical heights with his achievement he is also looking to collect funds for his second passion of his life – animals
In fact, Spiteri is looking to collect the sum of €100,000 that will be split among 29 shelters around Malta and Gozo.
Anyone who would like to contribute to Spiteri’s cause can do so in the following way – Revolut: +356 99816248; Paypal: rarmalta@gmail.com; SMS donations €2.33 | 50617312; €4.66 | 50618075; €6.99 | 50618923; €11.65 | 50619260; Bank Transfer: BOV IBAN : MT40VALL22013000000050010082877.
