Birkirkara St. Joseph triathlete Luke Bonnici (photo) took part in the ‘Not Quite April Fools Aquathlon’ at Saint Nicholas Leisure Park in Warwick, UK, last Saturday.

The weather was the worst the Yellow Saint could ever wish for, with chilly winds and cold temperatures prevailing. The race consisted of a 400 metre swim in an indoor pool and a 3.2 km run around the park.

In total there were 183 athletes competing in this aquathlon. Most of them were junior athletes participating in short distance aquathlons in their respective age groups. As a result Bonnici was one of the last triathletes to start the race, his starting number being 181.

Due to the large number of people participating in the aquathlon, race start times for each triathlete were set at one minute apart. As such one would never be sure how one would be faring in comparison with other triathletes.

Bonnici’s swim time, including transition, was 6 minutes 11 seconds, while the run time was 12 minutes 23 seconds. His overall time of 18 minutes 30 seconds won him the aquathlon by a margin of 58 seconds on his nearest rival.

At the moment Luke Bonnici is studying Geography at Liverpool Hope University, and will be staying there till the end of May. Until then he will be training in preparation for another three races in the UK.

The next race is the Cow Man Sprint Triathlon at Milton Keynes on 18 May. The following week he will be participating in Wales and on 1 June he will be doing a 10 km race in the Mersey River Tunnel in Liverpool.

In a statement following this international success, the Birkirkara triathlete thanked his parents for their continuous support, the Coventry Triathlon Team who were very supportive throughout his stay in Coventry; and last but not least Club coach Dermot Galea, who, notwithstanding the distance, constantly assists him with his training and race preparation.