Race Review Long Course Wales 2025
This was my 2nd time at doing Long Course Wales, it’s a multi day triathlon event hosted in Tenby. Its consists of a 2.4 mile swim opposite direction to Ironman Wales, a 112 mile bike leg which is about 85% of the Ironman route and a hilly 26.2 mile marathon.
I arrived on the Wednesday and did some practice swims in the sea as I knew for me this was going to be the hardest aspect of the event. The swim started at 7pm and its a mass start, so lots of arms and feet everywhere at the start. Conditions were quite choppy in places, my goal was simply to finish. In the end I finished with a 1 sec lifetime PB swim I was super excited. But 5 miles sea swimming across 3 swims in 48 hours was physically tough. The thought immediately starts about fuelling and getting ready for the 07:00am bike leg on the starturday.
Bike leg started with drizzle overcast and light rain but very humid and reasonable wind around 15-16mph. The route follows about 85% of the Ironman route so whilst it is quicker it will give you a good idea of what expect. On the day I made a few fuelling mistakes which cost be over the last 50 miles. But that’s the good thing about this event you can practice different strategies to see what works for you. But I made It to the finish to be greeted by welsh legend Andrew Jones what a surprise. Then back home and a good refuelling session.
Final day the marathon a lot of panicking before the start lost my air n b front door key. Later found it will 15 mins to spare, then was walking to the start and realised I’d forgotten my number. These things happen when you go solo but i made it to the start line in time. The marathon can only be described as undulating around 1750ft elevation gain. It’s starts of relatively flat then at 3.5 miles you experience the first big climb which has a gradient of 14% at the steepest part. Late on the hills were brutal in the heat and felt never ending. I personally find the Ironman route much easier. But we made it to the end and earnt the fourth medal. If you finish all 3 events within the cutoff times you get to walk down the red carpet to collect your fourth medal.
In summary it’s a great race and challenging with it being over three days. The weather in Tenby is very changeable, you will normally get wind/rain and sun. But it’s great preparation for Ironman Wales
