WATCH: Local Legend Neil Agius Opens Up About His Sicily-Malta Swim
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you must know who Neil Agius is.
This superhero swimmer not only committed to swimming all the way from Sicily to Malta, but vowed to do it for a worthy cause – #Waveofchange. This is a movement seeking to rid Malta from single-use toxic plastics by bringing together athletes, swimmers, and environmentalists to raise awareness about this problematic material.
Let’s face it. Making it through this gargantuan task is no easy feat.
Put a couple of jellyfish stings and a few bouts of exhaustion into the mix, and it’s safe to say that it’s one of the hardest challenges the human body can undertake.
Lovin Malta caught up with Neil Agius to get some insider information about what his Sicily-Malta swim truly entailed, and it’s safe to say that our respect for him just shot up through the roof.
Comfortably sat in the new Ford Puma Mild Hybrid, Chris headed off to pick up Neil.
There’s no way Chris was going to be late for this interview, so he quickly keyed in Neil’s home address, which directed him right to the swimmer’s doorstep.
Primed and ready to accommodate Neil with its very own wireless charging port the car kept Chris & Neil connected every step of the journey.
There’s a whole lot of cool stuff we learnt about Neil from this interview – but we can’t possibly fit it all in this article.
Get the full run-down of his challenging swim by watching the full video; but until then, here are our favourite facts that came out of this discussion.
- Swimming at night got Neil feeling disoriented – so much so that he started swimming back to Sicily at a point.
- That substance slathered on Neil’s body during his swim was sunblock mixed with Sudocrem. This helped to stop his body from constantly absorbing water.
- Soon after he set off on his swim, Neil got stung by a moon jellyfish which let out an irritating goo. Sounds painful right?
- Neil had a full-on game plan in place just in case he encountered a shark. Luckily, he never had to go through with it.
Chris and Neil did more than just talk throughout their drive – they even had their very own mini-cleanup!
The Ford Puma is equipped with its very own MegaBox – now that’s a cooler where you can store a bunch of cold drinks to keep you hydrated throughout your ride. Talk about beating the heat.
For this particular instance however, Chris and Neil used the MegaBox to store some handy apparatus for their cleanup.
The Ford Puma Mild Hybrid prioritises passenger comfort, and its massage chairs are a perfect testament to this.
Imagine making your way back home after a hard day’s work – or in Neil’s case, a cross-channel swim. The Ford Puma is aptly equipped with a massage setting which will surely prime you up for a nice, relaxing evening.
The Ford Puma Mild Hybrid is also way less harmful to the environment than your traditional petrol-powered car.
This technology helps to reduce emissions by pairing an existing petrol or diesel engine with a small electric motor. The motor allows the engine to switch off below a certain speed, meaning that less fumes will go up into the atmosphere.
Basically, if you’re looking for a super comfortable ride with an environmental conscience, the Ford Puma Mild Hybrid is the vehicle for you.