Ironman Wales 2018

Mike Harvey took on the IronMan Wales 2018 a few weeks back and by the sounds of this extremely undulating course to say the least...and a jellyfish in the face...he needed the time to recover!

IRONMAN WALES 2018 – Race Report by Mike Harvey

Firstly, anyone considering doing a full IM and thinking Tenby, then find every mountain road in Scotland and run and cycle them like there’s no tomorrow, because you’ll need that foundation to get you round what the IM Family describe as the hardest IM in Europe if not in the world!

Having never been south of Llandudno, Wales before, I had never experienced their roads. I now know what they mean by the Welsh Valley’s. It’s like the longest roller coaster driving through central Wales, and guess what, the IM course is no different!

Tenby is a beautiful little town full of lovely friendly locals. I drove some of the cycle course on Saturday – the easy part! Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Sunday morning 5.40am – final check of bike, join long queue for porta loos, pull on wetsuit and squeeze by 2000 other wetsuits to get near the front. The only IM where you have a 4th bag (pink) which you take a 2nd pair of trainers to beach for 1 km run back to T1. The tide was high and the water was calm, just a gentle swell. The sun came through the clouds as a local male singer sang the National Anthem before taking part in his first IM. All very atmospheric. The Pro’s dived into the sea and I was in 3 minutes after. A little congestion at the first 2 turns in the first lap but fairly free of boxing. On the back straight of the second lap (I’m a magnet for such) I swam into a jellyfish. The pain was intense across my face. I leapt back in the water inducing a calf cramp. A support canoeist asked if I was ok – of course I was, I had an IM to complete!! I think it made me swim the last section faster to kill the pain.

Out the water, across the sand, up the steep zig zag walk way, shoes on and carry pink bag running 1K through streets to T1. Out on bike, face smarting but enjoying cool air blowing nasty jellyfish sting, and on with 8,100 foot of climbing over the 112 miles ahead. The course had many technical sections and oh so many climbs. In fact I can’t remember descending, only climbing! On returning to the coastal villages you reach first time round the famous climbs of Wiseman's Bridge and Saundersfoot. The crowds are out of this world as are the climbs – 16%. Within the last 10 miles of the course you hit these climbs 2nd time around, but there had been light rain, and under the tree canopy we were loosing traction on our back wheels. 2 blokes next to me ran out of gears and traction and fell off. My nice new Continental’s dug in and got me over the crest and on back to Tenby. As I came into the town and the heaving crowds my wife Alison shouted that No1 in my age group was 12 minutes ahead.

The RUN! If you weren’t a Triathlete and just enjoyed running Tenby would be the last marathon you would ever enter! It leaves the town on a fairly steep descent and then starts climbing and climbing, and some more. Quite pleased with lap 1 and then the other 3 became an increasing nightmare, cramping down hamstrings, stomach in turmoil. I had come to Tenby with the hope of going sub 12 hrs. Three years ago I did Austria in 10:43 and everyone says add a healthy hour to your best for Tenby. I kept looking at my Garmin which told me if I just kept ‘crawling’ I’d go sub 12. As I ran/walked down ‘beer mile’ through the crowds 8/10 deep in the last mile through the town centre to the finish I’ve never felt such relief. Over the line in a time of 11:29:46, 4th in my Category, and 196th overall. No Kona for me as the German and Belgium chaps grabbed the 2 slots at the awards ceremony on Monday morning.

The medal says on the back “I FACED THE DRAGON”. If you only ever do 1 Full IM – do Tenby – and all others will have full respect for your endeavours – but remember – hunt down every hill climb in Scotland and hammer them.
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FANTASTIC ACHIEVEMENT MIKE