The Wales LCW is the Ironman distance over 3 days. (It’s possible to enter various options of distances and just 1 or all 3 events) the swim and bike are similar route to Ironman but the run is different. Ian Oliver signed up as preparation for Ironman Wales in September. Mike and Di Winterburn, Jenny Grindrod and Mike Atkinson went along for the bike ride. We hadn’t realised it was same weekend as Bolton and we watched our trackers Sunday to follow our brilliant athletes. On Friday Ian Swam 4.1km with the waves and current and was pleased with how comfortable he felt. Mike, Diane and Jenny had a splash about up to the first buoy and enjoyed the fireworks, band and the excitement of the event. On Saturday morning we set off to ride 112 miles but enjoyed the feed stations so much we hadn’t paid attention to the cut off times which we missed by 10 minutes and were funnelled into the finish line to our disappointment. (And relief) on the Sunday we ran one loop of the Ironman wales route which is out and back hill. Not easy if you had just cycled 112 miles. Good luck to everyone racing Wales in September. Highly recommend the long course weekend, it was well organised and supported with a very mixed group of competitors.

Race Report by Jenny Grindrod