Ironman Wales 2014

This is not me being adventurous in any way, but it was so impressive I decided to post it anyway. 

Sunday 14th September 2014 saw the Ironman Wales event take place in Pembrokeshire.  

Starting and finishing in Tenby, the participants begin with a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim in the sea off Tenby. Having got out of the water they then have to run up the hill into Tenby town to transition to their road bikes, ready for a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride through the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside. As if all that isn’t enough, on completing the bike course they then have to swap their bike shoes for running shoes, and complete a marathon! 26.2-miles (42.2 km) of running after all that!

These are obviously epic distances, but the Ironman has a strict time limit of a total of 17 hours to complete the race. The race starts at 7:00 am, and cut off for the swim is 9:20 a.m. (2 hours 20 minutes), the bike cut off time is 5:30 p.m. (8 hours 10 minutes), and the mandatory marathon cut off is midnight (6 hours 30 minutes). Any participant who manages to complete the triathlon within these timings becomes an Ironman, although I think that anyone who can keep going for 17 hours deserves some recognition, even if they don’t finish the entire course!

The day began for us with me walking over to my friend’s house, and then she drove us to Tenby. We were hoping to see some of the swimming, but by the time we had caught the park and ride service that was running for the supporters, and made our way through the crowds, we realised that it would take a while to make our way to the area where we would be able to see the swim. Unfortunately we didn’t manage this, but soon after our arrival the first swim finisher came running towards transition. We found that we had a good spot to watch the swimmers run in towards the transition point, where they would transform into cyclists, and whizz back past us in the other direction.

Some of the cyclists are still getting things ready this soon out of transition

Running in and cycling out, past the town walls of Tenby

We stayed in that place until the very last competitor had gone through. Sadly many people didn’t finish the swim – some had never swum in the sea before, and simply weren’t prepared for the challenge. Others sadly succumbed to seasickness due to the choppy conditions – this seemed really awful, as all the preparation they must have done simply ended in an unavoidable early finish.

Even this early-on however, we got to see some really nice examples of the sportsmanship of the athletes taking part: there was an accident with a cyclist falling off. I couldn’t see it happen, but from people who had a better view I think this was because a couple of bikes were close together, but they had to brake to avoid spectators who were crossing the road. These crossing points were controlled by marshals, but at this point there was some lack of thought going into it, and they were letting too many people cross at once – meaning that the pedestrians couldn’t squeeze through the gap in the barriers quickly enough to be out of the way when more cyclists came – there were lots of ‘boos’ from the crowd at this. Anyway, the outcome was that one cyclist came off his bike. He had to fiddle with the bike quite a bit to get things running smoothly again – a finely tuned road racing bike can be delicate to falls. While he was struggling with this, another cyclist came round the bend and saw him, and stopped to help! The roars of the crowd when these two got on their way again were huge. Lots of support for those two!

Another guy had his wife and tiny son (about 2 years old maybe?) waiting opposite me to cheer him on. As he came into sight the wife pointed out to the little boy “Look! There’s daddy!” The dad spotted them too, and pulled over to give them a cuddle and get a photo taken! Very cute!! Afterwards the little boy was so excited, and kept calling out “We saw daddy! We saw daddy!” A bit of a melty-heart moment!

Most importantly for us though, was spotting our friend Chris as he went past. I’ve known Chris since I was about 12, when I joined Scouts. His dad Harry was the Scout Leader, and it was a really great group. Sadly, Harry died from cancer last year, and Chris decided to take part in the Ironman to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. This is also a charity close to my own heart, as their help and support was invaluable when my own dad was dying from cancer back in 1999. Even more impressive is that just last week Chris was in an accident while training on his bike, getting knocked off by a tractor! His JustGiving page is here if Macmillan is a charity you like to support.

Chris (in the blue top) beginning the cycle ride

Once all of the cyclists had gone past, we made our way back to the park and ride bus service, to get the car and move on somewhere to watch the cyclists. 

Tenby Loves Ironman (and -woman!)

We went a short way to the village of Carew, where we were able to sit on the wall of a small bridge and cheer on the riders. This section was a 2-lap section, and on the first time around many of the riders were in great spirits – lots of smiles, shouts of thanks for the support, and even some funny comments as they whizzed by! 

Cyclists at Carew

We spotted Chris here on both of his laps, but I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get a good shot of him unfortunately. The only picture I did get was this one of him as he headed up the next hill. He’s the bottom rider in a blue shirt in this picture, but he proved a strong climber and was overtaking other riders up the hill until he was no longer in sight.

By 2pm we were getting pretty hungry, so we headed back to Tenby again to get some late lunch. Already there were Ironman athletes beginning the marathon, so we followed the course up through town, cheering them on as we went, until we got to a lunch spot. Refuelled, we spent the rest of the afternoon moving from spot to spot to cheer on the runners. The marathon was a 4 lap affair, so as more cyclists finished and got their trainers on for the run, the course got busier and there were more people to cheer on. 

The athletes were given coloured bands to wear, a different colour at each lap, so you could see how far along they were. The lead male and female athletes were also accompanied by a cyclist displaying a sign telling you they were in the lead - plus the motorcycle film crews. Here is the lead male running past:

We were pleased to see this guy too - we had spotted him going to the transition on his sticks, and were amazed to spot him a few times on the marathon circuit:

He was richard Webster, an ex-Wales and British Lions rugby star. He was using the crutches to take the weight off his legs after a long rugby career requiring multiple knee operations.

After a while we found ourselves on a small side street. A lady opposite was cheering people on by name, and we realised that the athletes’ numbers, which they now had to wear on a band around their waists, had their names written in small letters beneath the race numbers. So when this lady moved on – having spotted the athlete she was looking out for - we began cheering their names as they passed. We are both very quiet normally, and we really surprised ourselves with how enthusiastically we were shouting! We soon really got into it, spurred on by the gratitude some of the athletes showed at just having a little extra support.

Our cheering spot

So enthusiastic were we, that soon the whole street-full of supporters was shouting on the athletes by name! We saw Chris go past this spot twice, although we only just spotted him the first time as he was no longer in blue, having changed into his Macmillan top for the run!

A bit of a smile this time, and a thumbs up!

We had to move on after a while, as my friend’s little boy needed the toilet. The street near the public loos was pretty quiet, so while we were there we took up our cheering tactics again, and soon had more people cheering on the athletes again. 

Another inspiring athlete, carrying on despite injury. I hope he made it!

Our next spot was on an uphill section. The pain on the faces of the runners was so evident, and we shouted even harder to encourage them up the hill. By this point our hands were red and swollen from clapping, our voices were very hoarse, and it was getting dark. We stayed as long as we could, but it was a Sunday and my friend’s son needed to get to bed, ready for school in the morning.

We both felt guilty that we couldn’t stay to support everyone right through – we had been there for over 12 hours, and would have gladly stayed until midnight I think, as we had so thoroughly gotten into the spirit of it! We had even been filmed a few times by the cameramen capturing the event, as they were so impressed with our cheering!

I hope all the athletes who took part are having some well-earned rest today! 

Island Hopping, Pembrokeshire Style!

Caldey Island is a small island, only about 1 x 1½ miles big. It lies not far off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, near to Tenby. It’s so close you can easily see it from the beach – I have even kayaked out to it many years ago.

But I had never visited it before - and nor had my friend Sarah, who is also from Pembrokeshire and has lived here all her life.

With a good weather forecast last Saturday, we decided to rectify this situation… We headed over to Tenby on Saturday morning, and after a couple of quick errands and a coffee in a nice independent coffee shop, Caffe Vista, we wandered down to the harbour to buy our boat tickets to the island. Just £11 each for adults, not too bad for a unique day out.

The boat left from the beach near the harbour, via an ingenious jetty that is moved by tractor to match the tides :)

The weather was glorious, and as we rounded the coast we could see Caldey in full view.

For some reason, I hadn’t expected to see a golden sand beach on Caldey, but as we landed the sand and sunshine made it look as though we had travelled to some exotic island, not just somewhere in Wales!

The only thing I had really known about Caldey was that a) they had their own postage stamps, and b) there was a Monastery there. The Monks there are Cistercians, a strict, contemplative offshoot of the Benedictine Order, but none-the-less they are welcoming to their island:

Sarah and I were surprised at quite how many buildings and houses there were! Most were whitewashed, which looked beautiful against the gorgeous blue sky – and really added to the feeling of being abroad! Mediterranean maybe?

But amongst the white, this little cottage caught my eye. I love the colourful fishing buoys and the wiggly driftwood, and the deep veranda is brilliant. Very much like some of the traditional Queenslander-style homes I have seen pictures of over in Australia!

We continued on the path to the small and simple St David’s Church, a Norman construction.

More driftwood in the form of a small cross by the door…

Inside is small and simple, beautiful in its simplicity :)

I love this stained glass – the colours and design are gorgeous, I love how the actual sun is shining through the stained glass sun :)

  

Back outside… The simple wooden crosses mark the graves of Monks who have passed on from their earthly toil.

We follow the path away from the church and take in the views over the woodland part of the island.

Then return to the island centre for lunch, which we eat with the Monastery overlooking us. This is certainly not what we expected! We both imagined hewn stone and stark lines, not this magnificent Italianate edifice!

Below the Monastery is the little island post office, where you can buy an envelope with the island stamps – these days they require a normal stamp for postage too, but by posting them on the island they do get marked. I bought a set to send to my mum so she would have the post marks.

Here are the Caldey stamps:
 

We walk towards the western side of the island next, and pass a field of horses. This one catches our eye – his mane makes him look like a New Romantic horse!

Over at the far edge of the island, just a few minutes’ walk from the centre, is the light house. 

Not a great photo, but the land beyond the light house there is the Gower near Swansea, South Wales, and then Devon is visible where it reaches further west past the Welsh bit! Quite amazing, to be as far from the Welsh/English border as you can get in Wales, but just be able to gaze over the sea to England :)

We were too late arriving to have long on the island and the last boat back was at 5pm, so it was time to turn around and head back to the little harbour for the boat ride back.

On the return, we didn’t land at the beach but instead went further round to land at Tenby Harbour. This meant we passed the Lifeboat Houses: the one to the left is the new one, which is the current Lifeboat House, while the one to the right (the red and white one) is the old Lifeboat House. This one is now privately owned, and has been converted into a home – this transformation was featured on the TV show Grand Designs. 

I had never seen Tenby Harbour’s pastel houses from the sea before…

This house on the harbourside has one of those "Famous person X used to live/work/etc here in..." blue plaques. This was something else new to me…

Look closer…

In all the time I lived in Pembrokeshire, and in all the time Roald Dahl was such a favourite author of mine, I never knew he used to holiday in Tenby!

 

You learn something new every day :)

Pembrokeshire Climbing

One of my favourite outdoors activities is rock climbing. I have been a climber since I was about 15, when the father of a boy from my school suggested it to me as an activity I would enjoy. He wasn’t wrong! I absolutely loved it, and my local climbing club was a very friendly and supportive bunch, who I thoroughly enjoyed going out with.

I climbed regularly and frequently for a few years, before I sort of drifted away from it while completing a full-time college course (while working a 6-day-week at the same time!) in order to get into university.

I no longer climb as much as I would like, mostly because I am not able to lead climb and so am reliant on having someone else to take me climbing. Unfortunately, since moving away from Pembrokeshire I haven’t known people living near enough to me for heading off rock climbing. So, when my brother and his wife came to visit, I jumped at the chance of an outdoorsy day with good company :)

First of all we went surfing at a local beach. The waves were too big for me to be able to take the camera out as well – all of my attention needed to be on the task at hand, as I am not the greatest surfer… While my brother was out back catching the big, proper waves, his wife and I were further in towards the beach. The waves are messier here, but I find them easier to manage than the proper waves. Something I need to improve if I want to be half decent!

Coming out of the water, we caught up with various people we knew who had all come to the beach for the waves that day. We had lunch together at the beachside pub, and then moved on to St David’s in order to go rock climbing on the coastal cliffs at Porthclais.

The winter’s storms had affected this part of the coast too, and some climbing routes are gone forever as huge sections of rock have tumbled to the sea.

A new gap in the cliff!

The newly exposed rock behind might give up new climbing routes though, once all of the unstable bits have fallen away, and only more secure rock is left behind.

You can see the colour change, where the previously unexposed rock is now out in the open

Look at those jagged rocks with their fresh sharp edges! You wouldn't want one of those landing on your head!

My brother was the lead climber for us, setting up the equipment. His wife went up second so that I was around below to shout any advice if it was needed - it wasn't needed in the end as she did really well, but she is fairly new to climbing and is not too comfortable with heights, so it was nice to have the reassurance anyway!

Me climbing, with my brother belaying

I love climbing by the sea, I love the noise of the water, the views, the fresh sea air. 

My sister-in-law climbing - she's removing the lead protection in this shot

After she got to the top, my brother threw the rope back down so that I could climb up too. Good job he can be trusted!

You often get to watch a lot of wildlife as well like sea birds and seals – the seals are great, as they seem so curious about you too, and lie back in the water watching your antics. We didn’t see any today though, only this hairy bear caterpillar (although the internet tells me it’s a woolly bear) which I think might be a Tiger Moth caterpillar.

With aching arms from battling the big waves earlier on, we only did a couple of routes before calling it a day and heading back to my mum’s house. It was great though to get out and spend the whole day enjoying the outdoors, something I wish I had done more of over the last few years. At least I have the reminder of how much I enjoy it, so that I can make more of an effort from now on :)