Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club celebrates 30th anniversary

Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club was formed in September 1992 by a group of individuals keen to discover the relatively new sport. 

Now it has 230 members, aging from 8 to 68, who compete in a wide range of competitions.

The club recently held a party at Haverfordwest Cricket Club in what was described as a night of speeches and presentations ending with lots of reminiscing and people catching up on old times.

“It was great to catch up with triathletes old and new including a few original club members Darryl Sable, Roger Devonald, Jon David, Roy Beardsmore, John Hackett and Charles Paffett who had travelled up from Cornwall,” said Mr Munn.

Originally named Haverfordwest Triathlon Club, the four or five founding members, under the inaugural chairmanship of Daryl Sable and the drive and commitment of Charles Paffett, started the club with the bulk of the training based around Tuesday nights ‘forces’ style hard circuit training followed by a swim session. 

There are a few members left who still have fond memories of those cold, dark winter nights of endless circuit training in Haverfordwest’s multi-storey car park.

In its first race season the following summer the club had good positions in the ‘Welsh Grand Prix’ series, particularly in the ladies category, despite the lack of triathlon-specific training knowledge.

The regime stayed like this for a number of years until, with the advent of better advice, a more structured training approach evolved.

Coaches got involved and with the abundance of triathlon-specific training information readily available, a larger core of members were racing countrywide and the club soon had its first Great Britain age-group competitor.

In 1994 the club organised the inaugural ‘Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon’ in Broad Haven.

In its first year it was called the Welsh Championships with just 120 competitors.

It was such a success that the following year it became a ‘British Grand Prix’ race and a ‘World Championship Qualifier’ with 370 competitors.

The club has grown from a handful of members to over 200 (Image: Western Telegraph)

The club say they cater for all abilities (Image: Western Telegraph)

The club still holds a triathlon at Broad Haven which is regarded as one of the best organised events on the circuit.

It is part of the Welsh Super Series and has held the Welsh Championships.

And club events have grown from strength to strength.

The Pembrokeshire Duathlon was a new event to the club and was initially held as a one-off event although it now has a firm position in the race calendar.  

The club, which was formed in September 1992, celebrated its 30th anniversary (Image: Western Telegraph)

The club has a burgeoning junior section (Image: Western Telegraph)

The popularity of triathlon has grown steadily over the years including the rise of the Ironman in Tenby and the Go Tri series organised by the county council.

This success gave the club a good foundation which attracted many new members.

The club has gone from strength to strength and now has a strong training, racing and social element which caters for all abilities and aims.

The club holds a triathlon at Broad Haven which is regarded as one of the best organised events on the circuit (Image: Western Telegraph)

The club renamed itself Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club in autumn 2000, to reflect the wide area the club draws its members from.

Shortly after this a few dads set up a junior section and this section of the club has thrived producing many outstanding triathletes with many representing their country.

One former member includes Luke Watson, now national performance director for Welsh Tri and chief architect of the recent Commonwealth Games team relay silver medal.

The membership of the club has consistently grown to around 230 members, with training sessions suitable for all abilities.

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