Maurice Formosa (The Cyclist), Patrick Scicluna (FRM Racing Team Sicilia) and Mark Bonnici (Agones SFC), some of Malta’s top local cyclists and members of the Malta Mountain Bike Association recently competed in the XCO Castello Donnafugata, a cross country Mountain Bike Race held at Castello Donnafugata in the province of Ragusa.
The route the Maltese cyclists competed in consisted of several loops of 3.2km – the number of loops being dependent on the Category being competed in. One has to keep in mind that despite the short distance of the loop, these courses are highly technical consisting of steep uphills and downhills and several sharp twists and turns.
Maurice Formosa, current Mountain Bike Champion took part in the Master 2 Category which saw a field of 19 participants. This category consisted of a course of 7 laps. A well fought category of some of Italy’s top cyclists, Formosa battled hard and secured a third place in his category by means of a nailbiting sprint finish to get third place. Formosa finished his 7 laps in a time of 1 hour 27 minutes.
Meanwhile Patrick Scicluna, racing for Sicilian team FRM Racing Team Sicilia brough honour to his new colours when similar to Formosa obtained a third place in his cateogry. The Master 4 Category was also very well fought ensuring that Scicluna had a hard battle to fight. Scicluna joined fellow team mate Alessandro Spampinato to give their team two places on the podium. The five lap route was completed by Scicluna in a time of 1 hour 2 mins.
Although Mark Bonnici had a very good start, an accident in the fourth lap resulted in damage to his bike forcing him to retire.
Following their success in Sicily the Maltese trio are scheduled to compete in the next race of the Trustmoore Cross Country National Point Series organised by the Malta Mountain Bike Association on Sunday 3rd March in M?arr.
