It may have seemed a little quiet on the extreme challenges front for the last six months in the world of Matthew Evans and Nicky Rees, but those close to them knew that, in fact they were training harder and smarter than they had ever done.

It was time for an Ironman, in fact Ironman Austria. Best explained by its founder John Collins: "Swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles run 26.2 miles, cut off 17 hours - brag for the rest of your life!

"Ironman has always been about finishing what you started, about being able to do what you set out to do. Maybe not as fast as the person in front of you, but certainly faster than the person that never started."

So, on December 1, training officially started for Matt, chief executive of Coastal Cottages, Activity Wales and Goscar Rock Internet, and Nicky, a lecturer at Pembrokeshire College and firefighter in Tenby, with morning swims in Tenby and Haverfordwest pools and also sea swims in Lydstep Bay.

The bike rides got longer as did the runs off the bike. Just over 600 hours of training later, Matthew and Nicky made the start line of Ironman Austria with smiles on their faces, alongside 2500 other swimmers for what would be the most daunting swim starts of their lives.

They shook hands as the gun went off, knowing they may or may not see each other for the rest of the day. They had trained together for months, but 2,500 swimmers over 2.4 miles is a scary sight.

Just over one hour and 10 minutes later, they emerged from the water standing side by side.

Nicky said: "We had more chance of winning the lottery than coming out of there together. We did not see each other all swim, but as we stepped out there he was!"

Matthew added: "Once I found Nicky I knew we would finish together. We stayed in touch on the bike leg and as we hit transition for the marathon run, we knew then we would finish. The result was then about timing, pacing and nutrition; to be fair we got it spot on! If we had got that wrong we would probably still be running!"

Nicky continued: "In the final 13 miles of the run we past just over 200 runners, which gave us a real boost. Only letting one person by as we prepared ourselves for the finishing chute. Thirteen hours, 15 minutes, and very tired legs!

"It was a great experience, but we would also like to say thanks to all who supported us, swam, ran and cycled with us over the months of training and a big hug to our wives that have put up with everything!"

Congratulations must also go to Barnaby Evans and Dylan Rees who both had top 10 finishes in their respective age groups at Ironkids. Watch this space!