Kristian Speake is one of the talented young footballers with Haverfordwest County in their Welsh League squad at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium who has a terrific story to tell about his football and first incursion into ‘Iron Man’ competition . . .

Kristian recently successfully completed his first 'Iron Man Wales' challenge in a very decent time of just over 12 hours 28 minutes and hopes to take part again sometime in the future, but at the moment is eager to resume his Welsh League involvement as a very busy midfielder at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium with Haverfordwest County.

Wealth of footballing experience

At 25 years of age Kristian has a wealth of experience in football that includes playing previously for Cardiff Metropolitan University for three years whilst studying Sport Business Management there, followed by a two-year spell in the USA where he pursued a Masters' Degree on a football scholarship at Carson Newman University in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Now it's back home to the Haverfordwest area where he is looking forward to helping The Bluebirds climb the table before he takes on another physical challenge on May 23rd next year when he is competing in the 'Half Iron Man' event held in Barcelona, Spain!

Family support and an early start

 Kristian would say that he has been very lucky in his sporting life to have the total support of parents Susan and Nigel, who ferried him everywhere, especially in his nine-year period playing for Swansea City's junior teams.

 "I had started out at Camrose as a seven year old, where my father coached the age group with the late 'Kanga' John, whose son Andrew is a good player, and I was invited to go for trials at Swansea City when I was eight. 

Magic moments with The Swans

 "I got into the squad and it meant travelling to Llandarcy for twice-weekly training sessions and long treks to away matches which meant very early starts for my parents as well, and late returns home as they followed the team bus to watch us play the likes of Bristol City, Southampton and Bournemouth.

 "There were some magic moments, not least when we went on tour to Italy and played against Juventus, AC Milan and Bologna with Joe Allen in our squad but at 16 I faced the toughest possible news when I was called in and told that I was being released - it was an awful time for me!

Honours degree and football with Cardiff Met – then off to ‘Soccer Land’!

 "It was at this time that I decided I needed to focus on my education and so I took my 'A' Levels and went on to pick up my 2.1(Hons) degree at Cardiff Met, where I played football throughout my three years and helped the team move from Division Three to Division One of the Welsh League under the guidance of Christian Edwards."

Then the chance came for Kristian to go out to play 'soccer' in the USA and enjoyed their speedy, direct version of the game with loads of very young players involved in all the teams, as well as playing for Nashville FC in the NPSL, which was a very decent standard where they reached the play-offs before missing out in the semi-final.

Back home and joining The Bluebirds

 “My student visa was expiring and I decided to come home to spend time with family, although I hope to go back to the USA some day; I am extremely grateful for the life- changing experience it presented me. 
“Luckily enough, Wayne Jones and Sean Cresser contacted me about returning to play for Haverfordwest; and had a few games in the Welsh Premier, although it was difficult at first adjusting to joining a squad who had already played for each other for some time.”

Other sports

 Outside of his football, Kristian played a lot of tennis in his younger days and was part of the team that included players of the quality of Luke Dixon and Daniel Richards from STP School which won the Welsh Schools' Finals and then reached the British Finals before just missing out.
 He also played golf and dropped his handicap to 18 before other things caught his attention and his studies intervened.

 Iron Man – despite a previous lack of swimming experience!

One of these was the challenge of 'Iron Man Wales' which Kristian decided was something he would like to take on, despite the fact that in January he could only just manage to swim three lengths of the pool at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre.

 "I decided not to look for specialist coaching but attended whenever I could and gradually built up my swim stamina so that the most I did was 180 lengths (knowing that 164 lengths equate to the 2.4 mile swim in the Iron man.

 "But I was well aware that the competition would take place in open water off Tenby with loads of others vying for the same space so I also did some open water swimming - but it didn't compensate for being submerged on some of the turns by more experienced competitors who must have seen me as a nuisance and left me swallowing my share of salt water!

Cycling successfully completed . . .

 "But I was pleased to finish the first of the three components in one hour nine minutes and made the long transition to the cycle area, where I faced another big challenge because I knew I hadn't done quite as much training as I would realistically have liked because with work commitments I often had to use the turbo cycle in the garage at home.

 "I did manage a couple of cycling sessions between 60 and 90 miles so I was more than satisfied with my time of six hours 24 minutes for the 112 mile bike course around Pembrokeshire, especially since I was using a road bike borrowed from my father and there were real tests like the hills around Wiseman's Bridge and Saundersfoot!

Punishing run for the finishing line in Tenby

Kristian thought the run might not be so challenging because of all the running he did for football but knew that his top run of 18 miles wasn't quite what he wanted beforehand - and he was a little concerned when his legs started to feel the strain half way through.

But he says the crowd provided wonderful support and his finish in four hours and 36 minutes meant that he had finished in 12 hours 28 minutes so he was understandably jubilant at that achievement!

And finally . . .

Ask Kristian Speake about further Iron Man competitions and he would admit that they are sure to feature at some time - but in the meanwhile he has already entered the Barcelona Half Iron Man on May 21st next year because it won't clash with his football.

At the moment he is back in action at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium and we wish this talented young footballer every success now he's home with The Bluebirds!