Tenby’s triathlete star Olly Simon has finished his season with a record-breaking race.

The 35-year-old Long Course Weekend champion flew out to compete in Ironman Barcelona for his last big race of the season, with a target of breaking the Welsh Ironman record which was held by Richard Jones, who incidentally Olly looked up to when he first started the sport.

“The time was eight hours 43 minutes and I have had a couple of attempts at it on fast courses,” said Olly.

“On Sunday, I gambled and went all out on the swim and tried to come off the bike with the leaders with a PB on the bike of four hours 24 minutes, which meant I had to do the marathon in under 3:30. I am capable of running three hours, but after pushing that hard on the bike, I had to dig deep on the last 10k lap and managed to take nine minutes off the record with a PB of eight hours 34 minutes, which I think with the right pacing, on a fast course, I can better again next season.”

Olly added: “I am happy I managed one of my season targets and it was a big gamble as I had to pay to come out here by myself for an event where a lot can go wrong.”