Following the success of last weekend’s IRONMAN Weymouth, the IRONMAN UK & Ireland team are on the move to the next seaside destination of Tenby for IRONMAN Wales, which marks the end of the IRONMAN race season in the UK.
The town of Tenby, together with the county of Pembrokeshire, is getting ready to welcome thousands of athletes and their supporters for the 6th annual IRONMAN Wales, which takes place across the weekend of 17-18 September. Over 3,000 people aged 3 to 70 will be part of the action including some of the world’s finest IRONMAN athletes to compete in this increasingly iconic event, renowned for being one of the toughest on the IRONMAN circuit.
IRONKIDS will kick off the weekend’s racing from 15:00 GMT on Saturday (17th September). This sell out event, will see just over 1,000 budding stars of the future aged 3 to 14 take part in this ‘fun run’ in and around Tenby’s town centre.
Building on the success and demand for entry to this grassroots event, the organising team has made some tweaks to the course, which now has a new start location just outside the Expo at the Five Arches, enabling improved viewing for the crowds.
The main event day is Sunday 18 September when IRONMAN Wales gets underway at 07:10, a slightly later time to previous years due to the later sunrise.
Leading the charge will be a 40 strong pro field, with over 2,000 athletes following in their wake in a rolling start up until 07:30 from Tenby’s North Beach for the 2.4 mile, 2 lap swim.
After a 1km run through town to transition, the athletes will then head off on a 112 mile bike ride through a challenging hilly bike course around Pembrokeshire. This incorporates just over 2,000m of elevation, including the iconic spectator hot spot of St Brides in Saundersfoot.
The event then culminates in a 26. 2 mile run in and around the town of Tenby. The first pro is expected to cross the line at 15:50 when the finish line party continues right up until the 17 hour cut off at 12:30am. This year’s run course also incorporates a slight change to further improve the course and spectator viewing, which will bring the athletes up the Esplanade on each lap.
Some of the finest IRONMAN pro triathletes on the circuit will be battling it out for the US$15,000 prize purse, whilst also looking for points towards their IRONMAN World Championship Pro rankings along with many of the athletes looking for early qualification to Kona, for 2017.
IRONMAN Wales welcomes the largest male pro field ever in its 6-year history and will see some strong international contenders for the British athletes. Amongst those include favourites Alberto Casadei (ITA), Mike Schifferle (CHE), Daniel Niederreiter (GER) and Nick Baldwin (SEY), who returns to Wales for the third time, referring to it as ‘the best race in the world’.
Uber biker Karl-Johan Danielson, is also one to look out for and expected to dominate the field on the challenging Pembrokeshire bike course.
UK’s contenders are former IRONMAN 70.3 European Champion, Richie Nicholls, perennial UK favourite Fraser Cartmell and Phil Graves. Graves, who returns from a break of racing IM events, still holds the record as the youngest in the history of the sport to win an IRONMAN at the age of 20, when he won IRONMAN UK in 2010.
The compact women’s pro race also promises to pack a punch; favourites to keep an eye on include Diana Riesler (DEU), Jeanne Collonge, (FRA) and the viking Kristin Lie (NOR). Whilst UK’s hopes will rest on the shoulders of Nikki Bartlett, making her debut to IRONMAN as a pro, hoping that the terrain will suit her Scottish roots.
Attracting over 2,300 entries from 47 countries from around the globe, the event always has a strong local entry rate of Pembrokeshire residents. Coming from all walks of life, each of the athletes have their own story to tell as to why they’ve entered such a challenge. Losing weight, battling health problems, marking milestone birthdays and charity fundraising are just some of the reasons why competitors are taking part, with a notable 47% embarking on an IRONMAN for the first time, 89% of which are male.
Kevin Stewart, Managing Director IRONMAN UK & Ireland commented ahead of this weekend, “We’re really looking forward to welcoming all the competitors and supporters from around the world to Tenby.”
He continued, “This is the sixth year we’ve staged IRONMAN Wales – despite it being one of the toughest on the circuit it is also one of the firm favourites, due to its phenomenal vibe and open armed welcome from the entire county of Pembrokeshire. We could not stage the event without both their support and such a commitment from the local authorities.”
In addition to the weekend’s racing, there will be an IRONMAN Expo (15-18 September), which is free for the public to attend and positioned as an opportunity to view and buy the latest sports equipment.
The weekend’s events are free for spectators – and spectators are very much encouraged to support all athletes. With the action taking place across Pembrokeshire there are a number of opportunities and venues to view the event, including Tenby’s North Beach, Carew, Narbeth and Saundersfoot for the bike and Tenby’s town centre for the run and finish on The Esplanade.
