Last weekend, Chas Bickford-Smith of Newport & District Running Club took on the Challenge Wales Half Ironman event in Fishguard. After he finished, he was kind enough to send us this excellent report:

The Challenge triathlon brand organises triathlons worldwide, the main rival to Ironman, and as I had never done one of these before and so felt I should give it a go. At the time, the Challenge Wales triathlon was the only one in the UK.

Fishguard is just under a 4 hour drive from Newport, so Liz, Josh [Chas’ wife and son] and I set off on Friday evening in our camper for an interim stop at Aberystwyth Rugby club car park and chips on the prom. We got to Fishguard on Saturday afternoon to set up camp on the Goodwick United football ground (just behind the truck parking for the Rosslar ferry) – the race start was at 1pm on Sunday, which was due to tides, no ferries in the port and the event getting a full road closure.

I went out on Saturday afternoon in the rain for a final bike test and to check out the first couple of hills, especially the climb out of the harbour on the way to St Davids – all good and onto the evening race briefing and then the wait for Sunday afternoon, hoping that the weather and sea temperature would warm up. The water temperature needed to be over 12 degrees or the swim would be cancelled – Saturday saw the sea temperature at 12.5. The race briefing was very specific that you had to go in the water to acclimatise before the start.

Sunday came round along with the long wait to 1pm  – I have never been in a triathlon that did not start at the crack of dawn. The norm is to wake up really early, eat and go to transition (at Lanzarote in March you needed a torch as it was still dark in transition). The Challenge Wales course was set up well for spectators, so Liz and Josh saw the swim, were about 3 feet away from me in Transition and the bike was 2 out/back laps (Goodwick to St Davids), so they saw me at the turn point. The run was 4 laps back past transition each time. 

At 12:30 we were waiting in the hot sun (in black wetsuits for extra heating) to go in and acclimatise to the balmy 13 degree sea temperature, in for a gentle swim and to get an absolutely freezing face, then back out to wait for the gun at 1pm. We stood and watched as the ferry left port so at least that risk was removed…

Off we went.. well there was a bit of wait on the slipways as the swimmers sheepishly dropped into the water – a two lap swim with an “Aussie exit” at halfway which was an up the first slipway, 300m run and down the entry slipway and back in again, the second half was a lot more enjoyable than the first as the swimmers had spread out so not so much “bumping” especially around the turn buoys and I had warmed up. The thing I had not taken into account was the water got progressively colder the further we went from the shore so at the furthest point it felt a few degrees colder than at the start.

The bike was quite hilly. My Garmin showed it at 2,500 feet in climb, over the slightly longer 59 miles with a headwind out to St Davids (nicer on the return). After just over 3 hours, I was glad to be speeding down the hill into Goodwick harbour for the final time. I had been battling with 4 people over the last 10 miles, it is always interesting to see if they have gone too hard on the bike and their run ends up as a jog/walk.. or it might be me that will struggle and not see them again.

Back into transition, shoes swapped and out on the 4-lap run under the full glare of the sun – I hadn’t seen the run course but had been warned that there were hills… On finishing my Garmin said the climb over the 13 miles was 1,500 feet, not pleasant in the heat.

Soon into the 4 laps on the run I passed all 4 people I had battled with on the bike. The run took us past transition, out and back on a dusty track along the ferry port breakwater then up into Fishguard town, the first and longer climb was energy-sapping, but the the other three shorter ones were more aligned to a fell race than a triathlon, I admit that there was just no way I could run these three. Top of the third hill to get the lap wrist band, amazing the motivation these bits of rubber provide. Then steep downhill with a beautiful sea breeze to start over again.. To take my mind off the running I was checking other people’s arms to see if they have more bands than on than I did to “guess” how I was doing.

With 3 wrist bands onto the last lap I was amazed that I overtook a few on the final lap, then top of the hill and band 4 on – amazing, just down hill across the sandy stretch before the finish. Over the sand, left turn and onto the red carpet to be met by Josh who out sprinted me to the finish – they even had a special medal for the red carpet “helpers” which Josh proudly wore for the rest of the evening

Lots of noise and commotion at the finish as a volunteer passed me a Qualification token for me then to hear over the tannoy that I had come 3rd in my age group and had qualified for the Challenge World Championships in Slovakia next May – wow, a podium place! Not sure what happened, as they had the podium on stage but it was never used – I thought that was to be my one moment of fame, but not to be.

Chas Bickford-Smith after completing the Challenge Wales Half-Iron Man!

2023 is turning out to be quite eventful – with this qualification I have also qualified to be part of Team GB age group team in the Triathlon World Championships in Spain this September. I keep telling everyone that there are benefits to getting older..! A light recovery ride in the garage today (Tuesday) to start my build to my next triathlon event at Alpe d’huez in about 5 weeks.

Finished in 6 hours: 

  • Swim: 42 minutes which was 2 laps with a run in between including up and down slipways (3rd in age group)
  • Bike: 3hr 13m – with 2500 feet of climb (3rd in age group)
  • Run: 2hr 01m – with 1500 feet of climb (2nd in age group)