Neil is a real 'Iron Man'

Neil is a real ‘Iron Man’

When Neil Holmes crossed the finishing line at this year’s ‘Iron Man’ competition in Tenby he realised a long-held dream after previously being involved in football with St Ishmaels as a youngster and with triathlon after his work at Chevron took him to Houston, in the USA.

He continued his involvement with the swimming, cycling and running when work took him to Australia and when the first ‘Iron Man’ event was held in Tenby last year he was eager to give it a go on home county soil – but his work commitments meant he was unable to get home so ‘Iron Man 2012’ became his target and he has worked hard at the three disciplines involved for almost nine months.

Target achieved after lots of effort in training

Neil had set himself a target of 12 hours to complete the 2.25 miles swim, 112 miles cycling and 26 miles 385 yards running, and, competitor that he is, was just a teeny bit disappointed that he actually took an extra 43 SECONDS over and above his target time! But in hindsight he is rightly delighted by his overall time, which can be broken down to 1.02.57 for the swim, 6.58.15 for the cycling and 3.46.42 for the marathon.

Prior to the event, Neil spent upwards of 18 hours a week on training and still managed 7-10 hours weekly when he was working long, long shifts in Australia. He knew that his swimming was ok as a former Milford lad and his weakest of the three disciplines was the cycling so he spent some time on that, including the 108-mile long Tour of Pembrokeshire earlier in the year. It certainly paid off because Neil eventually finished in 390th place, which was great going out of over 1,500 entrants.

Tough times helped by great support

Ask him for a break-down of his progress and he would say that he was comfortable in the swimming before the 1km uphill trek back to collect his bike from the Rectory Car Park, but found it really hard going after about 80 miles as the cyclists encountered rain and 22mph winds, never an easy option for a cyclist

“It was super-hard on the hills out of Amroth and Wiseman’s Bridge, especially with Saundersfoot Hill still to follow,” said Neil, “but the crowds were amazing and they kept me going until I could park my bike up and get on with my favourite – the running!”
“That wasn’t easy either, mind, with plenty of hills but I had my wife Abby, son Tyler (9) and stepdaughter Neeve giving me every encouragement, along with sister Vikki and her husband Anthony, plus old friends Nic and Lucy Curcio.”
“But best of all was arriving at the finish, where the crowd was amazing, and made you forget how tired you were. Receiving my medal was brilliant and I am very proud to have finished my first ‘Iron Man’ – although it was hard to even walk the next day! I also raised £500 for the RNLI so it was a great day, overall.”

Other sporting involvement

Outside of his triathlon participation, Neil was a ‘marauding full back’ for St Ishmaels in his younger days, playing alongside the likes of Robbie Thomas, Dai Proctor, Adam Davies, Mark and Scott Devonald in a good Tish side. He has also enjoyed surfing for as long as he can remember on the Pembrokeshire Coast and continued it in Australia with limited time as he is kept busy in a Chevron project at Barrow Island off Western Australia after his previous stint in Houston. There are 3,500 on the camp and they have three outdoor pools, artificial football pitches, tennis and basketball courts alongside superb fitness suites that have the best equipment available – so in between work Neil can engage in some serious training.

Challenges ahead

So what next for Neil in terms of challenges?
“I’ll be home again in November and I’m looking forward to taking on the Pembrokeshire Coast Challenge. It’s not so well known as some of the other events in the county but involves three testing runs in three days, starting out from Dale and finishing at Newgale, then Newgale to Porthgain (between St Davids and Fishguard) and, finally, from Porthgain to Pwllgwaelod, between Fishguard and Newport. I’m really looking forward to that,” admitted Neil!

In the meanwhile it’s back for his next month-long stint on Barrow Island, and the chance to unwind a little now that the ‘Iron Man’ challenge has been successfully negotiated. It was nice to bump into Neil a few days after his completion of the challenging event and we wish him every success in future challenges – and hopefully PembrokeshireSport.co.uk will see him back for ‘Iron Man 2013’ if his work patterns allow it!

Neil is a real 'Iron Man'