Ironman comes to Pembrokeshire

40,000 people recently descended on Pembrokeshire, Tenby, in particular to watch or take part in Ironman Wales.

This challenging competition is run over 1 day, with a sea swim, biked ride and then topped off with a full marathon! It’s not for the faint hearted and it is deserved of it’s name!

My friend Gills’ son, Neil was in the competition-the second time for him and I also had a guest staying who was here to cheer on her sister, who was also competing.

Over 2000 men and women entered, with over 190 being from Pembrokeshire.

The day started at 5 am for us(on my day off!!!!), getting up so that we could drive to Carew to pick up the Park & Ride that the council had put on, as all the roads around Tenby would be closed due to the race. The Park & Ride ran very well, getting us into Tenby for 6.15am, and already the town was filling up, with Ironmen in their wet suits being spotted getting ready for their swim!

The swim start time was 7am, and there were thousands of people standing all over looking the beach ready to cheer them on.

The sea got more choppy as time went on, so the slower swimmers did have the hardest job-they had to swim 2 laps within 1 hour 15 mins to be able to carry onto the next leg-the bike ride.

 

I was standing next to a family who were supporting the husband competing in the race-he had previously done a half Ironman in Bolton, and they were amazed by how many people had turned out to cheer on the competitors, they said the atmosphere was much better in Pembrokeshire! (Yaay!!)

After the swim, the competitors had to run to transition to get onto their bikes and cycle all over south Pembs, before coming back to transistion to change into running shoes to finish with a full marathon.

 

Neil was hoping to get within a 12 hours finishing time, and all the family was there to support him.

The day started at 7am, and the competitors had until midnight that night to get all 3 stages completed, with individual deadlines in place for each stage, complete it within the deadline or be disqualified and therefore unable to continue.

 

As it happened, Neil did tremendously well, finishing faster than some of the professionals, with a final time of 11 hours, 30 mins and a position of 126-go Neil!! I must find out what he had for breakfast!!

What’s his next challenge going to be??