This weekend, Annette Maria Newman, Dai Morgan, James O’Connell, Jamie Mills and Jake Jenkins will be taking part in The Long Course Weekend, either parts of it or the whole thing.

This will be in preparation for Ironman Wales in September for Annette, Dai, James and Jamie. Although Jake is concentrating on shorter distance events, he’s a strong in the water so the Long Course Swim will be good practice.

Jon Mills chose to sponsor them through Tenby Cycles this year as its their first time taking part in Ironman. They will also be flying the colours of new local cycling club Tenby CC.

Said Jon: “They’ve trained hard over the past months and I’ve even had the pleasure of training them at Cycle-Fit Indoor Cycling and joining them on a few of their runs and cycle rides, although this is generally an hour of taking the mickey out of each other and them having no respect for their sponsor!

“They have all decided to take on this challenge for their own reasons, some for charity and others for personal goals. From my own point of view, I’m very proud to have sponsored them and will be cheering them on along with the rest of Tenby this weekend and during Ironman Wales.”

Meet the athletes

Annette Maria Newman: “I’ve always been pretty sporty and enjoyed the outdoors. I have biked and run quite a bit and took part in the Tenby 10k and the Cardiff half last year and really enjoyed them. I went to watch the swim on the Long Course last year and it inspired me. I said to my partner I really want to do that even though I couldn’t swim at the time, but knew it was something I really wanted to do to push myself more. I did this and since then, learnt to swim. I’ve signed up for the Long Course swim, bike and run and also signed up for Ironman Wales. This will be a massive achievement for me and something for my children to look back on and say how proud they are of me. There’s one thing in life I never want to do and that’s to look back on life and say I wish I did that.”

Dai Morgan: “A few years ago, I started running 10ks to lose a bit of weight and to get a bit fitter. 10k led to half marathons. As Ironman Wales and LCW started to take off, I decided to have a go at sprint triathlons. After a few races, I got more and more into the sport. Ironman was getting bigger and bigger every year so last year I decided to bite the bullet and enter. It’s one of the best days of the year in Tenby, the support, the atmosphere, a chance to test myself on one of the hardest course in the world and race with some of the best athletes in the world and of course to hear those famous words at the end....Dai you are a ironman!”

Jamie Mills: “I’m competing in the Long Course Weekend for my son who has hypotonia and hypo mobility and is missing part of chromosome 15. There is a little known charity call Unique who specialise in trying to find out more about chromosome problems and what they can cause. I decided I wanted to try and help them in whatever small way I could and this is what I decided on. So I’m hoping all the training will pay off and I’ll make it through the three days.”

James O’Connell: “I simply ran out of excuses why not to take on the challenge of Ironman Wales. I always had knack of coming up with some reason or another to keep putting of actually signing up until I then ran out of excuses why I couldn’t and only reasons why I could! Also, two of my best mates had a big influence on me finally stepping up and giving it a go. Jimi Thomas, who has been a big inspiration from experiencing his Ironman journey last year and making me realise that I can make that possible for myself, and Scott McLaughlin, double Ironman, for finishing every single argument, no matter the topic with ‘yeah but have you done an Ironman?’ Hopefully, after September 18, I can eventually shut him up!”

Jake Jenkins: “I have been swimming since I was young and facied trying something different, but still using my strengths, so I decided to try a local triathlon. I managed to place really well and caught the triathlon bug. I much prefer the shorter distance triathlons as I think I’m better suited towards them and it’s what I enjoy most. I’ve also been looking for support and help with my triathlon racing and Tenby CC/Tenby Cycles kindly offered to help me with my racing and I look forward towards the future.”