The hardest Ironman course in the series, and the best sporting day in Wales to watch. Also the day the roads shut.
Ironman Wales has a reputation among triathletes for being brutal — a cold sea swim, a bike course with relentless climbing and a run that goes up the same hill four times — and a reputation among everyone else for the crowds. The whole of Tenby turns out.
The swim starts on North Beach at first light. Athletes run down from the town, and the cliff paths and walls above the beach are packed with people watching a mass start in the dark and cold. It is the single best moment of the day and it is free.
The bike loops out through Angle, Pembroke, Narberth and back, with the climb out of Saundersfoot — universally known as Heartbreak Hill — lined so densely with spectators that riders go through a tunnel of noise.
The run laps the town. The Esplanade above South Beach and the narrow streets around the walls are the loudest places in Wales that afternoon. It goes on well into the night, and the last finishers get the biggest reception.
The honest bit. Roads on the course are closed for most of the day and there is no getting around it. If you are staying in south Pembrokeshire and not involved, you are effectively parked up until the evening. Read the road closure map before the weekend, do your shopping the day before, and if you need to be at an airport or a station on that Sunday, leave absurdly early.
If you are here anyway, watch it. It is extraordinary.
A full-distance triathlon based in Tenby: a sea swim from North Beach, a bike course through south Pembrokeshire and a run finishing in the town centre. Roads on the course are closed for most of the day.
Accommodation across south Pembrokeshire sells out for this weekend, often a year ahead. If you are not here for the race, avoid the area or plan around closed roads.
Before you plan around this
Dates change every year — check with the organiser before you travel
Run by Ironman.
We don't sell tickets and take no commission on any of these — links go straight to whoever runs it.
Accommodation books up around the bigger events — Tenby especially.
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