Demanuele completes Double Ironman UK

Seventy-two triathletes started last weekend's Enduroman Double Iron UK but not all of them managed to finish the gruelling race.

Charles Demanuele did Malta proud, however, as he was among 46 defiant competitors who completed the daring event in Linchfield, Staffordshire.

The race included a 7.6km swim - 304 laps in an indoor pool - a 360km cycle and an 84km run (a double marathon).

Demanuele completed the race in just over 33 hours but his finishing time would have been faster had he not suffered an injury in a bike fall.

This was not the only setback the Maltese fitness guru encountered last weekend.

During the running segment, two pranksters came out of nowhere and sprayed water on a group of participants, including Demanuele, causing them to lose precious time.

Undeterred, Demanuele soldiered on and completed the distance in 33 hours, five minutes and eight seconds. He clocked 2:48:59 in the swim segment, 16:50:17 in the cycle and 13:25:50 in the 84km run.

The race's official results classified Demanuele 35th overall.

Englishman Nick Holmes won the 2009 Double Iron UK in an accumulated time of 23 hours, 48 minutes and 23 seconds.

Paul Thompson was second, in 24:25.33, and Anthony Gerundini third, 25:31:44.

Holmes's comments on www.tri247.com perfectly sum up the sense of achievement felt by those who finished the endurance challenge.

"Although I achieved my pre-race target of finishing under 24 hours, and for the first time ever in a very long career in running and triathlon, my name will be at the top of a results sheet, and of which I am immensely proud, it was one of those occasions where there were no individual winners and losers," Holmes wrote.