Ironman Wales

Where do you start with last weekend. Paul Kaye, our South African red carpet host, says in the race briefing there is Ironman, and then there is Ironman Wales. Well, we all know how hard the course is and that it is classed as one of the hardest in the world, but to us it isn’t Ironman, not even Ironman Wales, but Ironman Tenby, our home race.

And so we should have home advantage, we should have a calm sea for us to swim in, no jelly fish, a lovely flat bike course, with no hills and plenty of local support; then the run should be flat, with our own crowds lining the route to shout and cheer the Pembrokeshire locals home, and all with glorious blue skies without a breath of wind.

Well that would be the perfect scenario for our athletes, but we can’t have everything.

But hang on, let’s look at what we actually had: the sea was calm, as calm as it has been; there were a few jelly fish, but not many; the bike course was great, but we did have the hills; the run wasn’t flat, but for the most part of the day we did have blue skies and no wind.

Oh and yes we did have a bit of support, well more than a bit. To be fair, the support was brilliant throughout the county, and to be fair I can only speak from my own point of view, but when the Aces kit was seen, the cheers of ‘Come on Tenby’ or ‘Come on Aces’ rang out, and the support on the day makes the whole journey very worthwhile, running through town, with the pubs overflowing with locals to Jon and his crowd at Tenby Cycles with the music going.

Then onto the competitors, with our now six-time Wales Ironmen Paul Slack, Carlton Coates, Dave Swan and Nicky Rees, to the other competitors who have completed the course before, to our new Wales competitors Elaine Brace, David Gosling, Steph James, Simon Lewis, Aaron Lloyd, Kirsty Murray, Anto O’Hara, Steph Waring, David Llewellyn Bowen, Pippa Dodd, Neil Duffy, Harry Goforth, Gareth Hunt, Mike Lindsay, Gareth Morris, Dafydd Owen and Tom Smith.

So 17 new people taking on the challenge for the first time. The months of training put in by all and now was the time to put all the effort to the test.

The format for the start had changed again, with competitors lining up in their predicted swim times for the procession through town, with some being cautious about their times and others being optimistic, then the moment the National Anthem starts and you know that you are underway.

The swim was great, with some posting great times and better than we could have hoped for, setting all up for a great start for the day.

The support through town was again up to its brilliant best. The noise and atmosphere in town, however, goes very quiet and the mind games start when you pass Penally and it all gets lonely apart from other competitors along the way.

The real business underway, with the cycle being the main part of the day, but with supporters popping up in places just to keep you on your toes, the hot spots of Pembroke, Carew, Narberth and, of course, Saundersfoot are great and give you a real buzz on the day. This keeps going back through Tenby, before it goes quiet once again, after Penally, and the strange feeling after being so close to home and having to cycle further away.

Some of the Aces flying at this point, and others starting to think about cut-off times to ensure that they got to the run. All except two made it through to get onto the run, and the feeling as you come into Tenby to start the run, with the support is very special.

The loops through town and the atmosphere are great and really inspire you on, with family members at places cheering you on, the change to the run course this year just to tease you as you got onto the Esplanade with the finish line in sight, before having to head back out on another loop.

One by one the Aces were coming into the finishing area, with all the usual suspects coming through and then lots of the first timers coming in, some with fantastic times, showing the work that they had put in. Getting to the hero’s hour as they call it, when the last few of us came across the line, myself included.

A fantastic day and excellent for all involved. Some very notable performances, with some of the Aces gaining podium positions in the presentation on the Monday.

One thing which was mentioned to me a couple of days after was how normal all the locals were, having a laugh and a joke with spectators on the run, when you are in lots of pain, but that, as I said, is down to the support that we get and that it is not Ironman, not Ironman Wales, but it is Ironman Tenby, our home race.