“Thank you Tenby, Yesterday was not about me, it was about you. And you delivered, and some!” - that was the message from former Wales rugby player Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas the day after he completed Ironman Wales for the first time on Sunday - an accomplishment he achieved after announcing on the eve of the event that he is living with HIV.

Support for the ex rugby international out on the course was huge throughout the day with Gareth stating that it “literally” stopped him in his tracks at times, and when he completed the course in 12:18:59, he was given a huge emotional hug by his husband Stephen at the finishing line, with Alfie’s former Wales and British Lions teammate Shane Williams also there to greet him after he too finished the triathlon in a time of 11:47:36.

The former Wales captain said he was determined to complete the Ironman event to help dismiss the stigma some still attached to the disease.

Giving his first television interview on Tuesday after revealing his diagnosis and the fact that he was threatened by blackmailers who wanted to expose his illness, Gareth told ‘This Morning’ presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby an emotional Gareth said that he was now “living life to the maximum” and not “afraid or scared” anymore.

“I did an Ironman to show everyone and to show the world, and I really felt in Tenby on Sunday that for one small moment some guy from Bridgend who doesn’t have a GCSE to his name, actually changed the world for a split second, and that to me meant that the last couple of years of my life, living hell, crossing that finish line it was worth it, because they drove me to do it!

“What people don’t realise that 5 months ago I couldn’t swim, so I had to learn to swim to be able to do it, but what I wanted to show was that stereotypically when we think of someone who is living with HIV, because of what we’ve been taught, we think of somebody who’s frail, somebody who is weak.

Going on to talk about the emotions he went through on the day of Ironman he said: “Public opinion and public support for me that day, I have never experienced anything like that in my life!

“When I came out of transition from the bike to the run, I stopped at my husband because I couldn’t breath, not because I was tired - I was tired - but because of the fact that the cheer and the emotion of support towards me took my breath away, it literally stopped me in my tracks!”