PHOTOS:
The 1st picture is with Welsh team mate Morgan Davies at the Team Wales Commonwealth Games launch day in Cardiff last Wednesday.
 The 2nd picture is Alex competing at the British Championships last weekend at Windsor where he finished 4th.
 The 3rd and 4th pictures are also from Windsor. 
 The 5th picture is him just before competing in a race in Portugal in April. (Wet suit)
 The 6th picture is Alex in the British Duathlon Championships in March.
 The 7th picture is Alex and sister Kate after coming 2nd in the British Universities Triathlon Championships in May.

 

 
Former Sir Thomas Picton pupil Alex Matchett has realised a boyhood dream by gaining selection for the Welsh Triathlon squad that will compete in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

20-year-old Alex will compete in the Games’ first-ever mixed relay event, where two men and two women from each country will take turns to complete a sprint triathlon before tagging off a team mate.
 

Potential shown in new discipline

 
Unlike the normal triathlon over hugely challenging distances, this new event sees a female competitor setting out by swimming a distance of 250 metres, then cycling 8km and running 1.6 km before handing over to a man who completes the same course, then the second female and finally a man, with a combined time deciding the placings – and the medals!

Alex showed his potential in this new discipline when he travelled out to Florida in February with his father Steve as an onlooker as Alex joined an American man and two Canadian females in a sprint team which came eighth overall against some top opposition – which must have impressed the Welsh selectors.

Selection confirmed on an unusual day

 
His selection was confirmed recently - although Steve admits he and other team members were privately informed last month in a phone call from the Performance Director of Welsh Triathlon.

“I have known about being selected for a few weeks now but I was still nervous until the actual announcement was made,” he told PembrokeshireSport.co.uk .

“You always need confirmation in situations like these but now the squad has been finalised I’m thrilled to bits to be included.”

But the Pembrokeshire triathlete, who turns 21 next month, admits that announcement day was a ‘strange’ day for him.

“Straight after I was announced in the team I had to go and sit a University exam in physiology before heading out for training.

“My mobile phone was off during the exam so I had a load of missed calls and messages when I came out.

“But it was smashing to know that so many people, especially in Pembrokeshire, were thrilled for me.”

And he will head to Glasgow in good form, having secured a fifth-placed finish in the prestigious Bleinheim Triathlon recently, a World renowned event with 7,000 entrants.

Tri-Star start in county – and support aplenty
 
Alex first started out in the sport with the Pembrokeshire Tri-stars when he was just five-years-old, after watching his father Steve compete in numerous triathlon events. Steve, who is a police officer, took part in the inaugural ‘Iron Man’ race in the county whilst sister Kate, who Alex thinks has the most natural talent of them all, has represented Wales in triathlon.

“Then there’s mum Fiona,” said Alex, “who has also taken part in triathlon - and it is a nice time to publically acknowledge her total support, which I have always had from all my family.”

“It was my father who helped start the junior section of Tri Stars and during my time there I also had great support from the likes of Clair Davies, Robin Withers and Nick Brown.”

Continuing his thanks, Alex is also grateful to Enterprise Cycles in Neyland, plus Pritchard-Cowburn Opticians of Narberth, for their generous sponsorship.
 

Highlights – and a lost cause

 
Alex has been competing for more than ten years; with highlights including a second-placed finish in both the British Junior Triathlon Championships and British University Triathlon Championships - both in 2012.

This was despite enrolling to study medicine at Bristol University, and after completing two years of the course, he opted to switch to a one year sport science degree at Loughborough University last September.
 
Those successes were a little different to an ‘Aquathon’ he once took part in at Poppet Sands years ago which involved swimming and running – and where he was so quick out of the water that the marshal was still on a toilet visit.

It was only when Alex was about three miles up the road on the run component, looking down on the beach, that he realised he had taken the wrong route.

“It was a lonely jog back down some steep hills,” he told us, “but I was able to laugh about it once I had cooled down!”

Changes worthwhile

 
He will return to the third year of his medicine course following the Games in September,
the switch being a necessary one in order to give himself a chance of making the Welsh squad.

“I usually train four times a day and medicine is an intense course so combining the two became very difficult so I knew I had to make a change if I was serious about making the team for Glasgow.”

Significant challenge but confidence high after latest triathlon

 
Undoubtedly, the move did pay off and Alex admits the Games will represent his most significant challenge to date.

“I have run in international events and European Cup races - but this will be by far the biggest race I have ever been involved in and I can’t wait for it.”

Joining him in the squad will be former International Triathlon Union champions Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins, along with Holly Lawrence, Morgan Davies, and Liam Lloyd.

He should be in fine fettle because his latest competition was in the British Championships over a full triathlon course at Windsor in front of a large crowd congregating outside the castle and along the route – and he came a very creditable fourth place.
 
It clearly sent him off in really good heart for some team training before they head off to Scotland, targeting a place on the podium.

“We know it’s going to be tough but we are definitely looking for a medal.

“The pedigree on the female side of our team speaks for itself - and now it’s up to us boys to back that up.”
 
We are ready to bet that Alex Matchett will back up his team mates in typical style and commitment – and we wish him every success as he flies the Pembrokeshire Sports flag with real distinction!