On 10 September 2017 Simon Steel (2&3 South, 1989-1994) took part in Ironman Wales to raise funds for the MS Society. He completed the course in 13hours 20 mins and overall ranked number 673 out of 2060 competitors. At time of publication he has raised more than his target of £5,000 and you can boost his total further by donating here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-steel1.
IRONMAN WALES EXPERIENCE
SWIM: After an early start to load up the bike and do final preparations, the 2060 odd competitors were marshaled into a giant hoard with wet-suited, pink swimming capped entrants moving into their correct zone (dependent on their swimming time – to help avoid getting swam over so much).
On shuffling down through Tenby to face the beach, just before race start the Welsh spectators/participants broke into the Welsh National Anthem which most of us struggled not to get pretty moved by! Then it was off. Swim was 2.4 miles (twice round a triangular course in Tenby’s North Bay). The weather at this stage held in our favour with the wind only starting to pick up on the second swim lap. With a new personal best of 1hr 17mins it was then a kilometre uphill run to the Transition area to change for the Bike.
BIKE: The bike phase lasted a long time and coincided with the worst conditions I have cycled in. The wind gusts were so strong on the Castlemartin Coastline stretch that they almost blew me over twice and even the hardest cyclists dropped their speed to a few miles an hour on some sections to stay upright. The IM Wales Womens’ Winner Lucy Gossage later described the bike conditions as “biblical”! Then the rain hit… hours of it.
Brilliant supporters lined the routes throughout the villages and towns cycled through and full credit to their hardiness. 7hrs 16mins later (an hour longer than anticipated) I returned to Tenby Transition, racked the bike, sodden, and quickly changed into trainers for the run. My ‘IM [emotional] Moment’ took me by surprise at the end of the cycle when unexpectedly seeing Annabelle and the kids, Mum and Dad, just as I cycled into Transition, fortunately only the bike racks witnessed this minor and temporary weakness!
RUN: The run was long and consisted of 4 loops just over 6 miles. It takes a mile or two for the ‘leaden legs’ to work out what you are now asking of them however eventually they reluctantly accepted their fate and we were off.
See how the smile fades as the run progresses
Running a loop or circuit is morale boosting when you start to progress over half way (or 3/4s!) however it is more mentally difficult when you are starting. You receive a different colour ‘arm band’ for each lap and at the out set you are consistently running past competitors with more armbands than you [thus significantly less distance left to run] and it is an irksome element I find tough. Earlier than I expected, there was a little voice telling me to ‘break into a walk’ or to ‘stop for a moment’ and as the run progressed nearly every cell is urging you to “stop/slow down/walk”! At this low patch, there was also a weight of responsibility felt to all those who had supported the MS Society/my effort… but conversely this forbade any inclination I had to rest or let up!
With around four miles remaining; a new feeling of relief and accomplishment filtered in and I ran through all the messages of support I could recall and these helped carry me home. The final mile or so was a surreal run through a ‘roaring Tenby‘ (no exaggeration it was madness) with thousands of supporters pouring from the hostelries and lining the route. They could see I was sporting a final fourth loop ‘yellow armband’ that I was about to finish, so ‘finishers’ are afforded even more celebratory and vocal support. There was a vibrant carnival atmosphere with music blaring from every window and shouts of “come on mate nearly there”, “you can do it”, (these are the more polite versions!) and high fives and claps on back as one ran through the crowds. You did feel like you were winning a marathon, despite the winners having finished several hours earlier!
Then 4 hrs 20 odd mins after the run started (and around 13 hrs 20 mins since running into the water at North Beach), the Red Carpet came into view; 6 deep with noisy supporters and then the finish. Hearing those magic words announced over the mega phones: “Steel you are Ironman”! Then you simply ‘stop’ and a range of experiences hit you, in varying order: Euphoria. Elation. Embraces with family. Exhaustion. Relief. Twitching unsteady ‘Legs of Lactic’. The onerous picking up of kit and bike. Being carried back to the accommodation for a beer with the family. Shower. Stumble. Bed. Restless Sleep with Legs of Fire. And then the morning after…. Ouch!
RESULTS :
Steel Time: 13hrs 20mins.
Total Competitors: 2060. Steel Rank Overall: 673 / 2060.
Age Group (40-44) Competitors: 407. Steel Age Group Rank: 138 / 407.
A HUGE and MOST SINCERE THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND KIND WISHES
Simon Steel / Steelo (or even temporarily ‘Steelman’)!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-steel1
To the right a photo of a very memorable day spent with the catalyst for all this: Tim Evans (front c) – One of life’s real Iron Men.