There were 2,400 Ironman Wales athletes who faced the dragon in Pembrokeshire on Sunday.

At the 7.30am start, there were those who wouldn’t cross the finish line until the early hours of the following morning. Others would never hear the magic words: "You are an Ironman".

But at the other end of the scale were the eventual winners.

Romping home in just over nine and a half hours was Pete Dyson to claim the men’s title, while Anna Lawson came in just over an hour later to claim the female race honours.

With no pro field this year, this 12th sell-out edition of Ironman Wales was the perfect platform for age group athletes to shine.

Dyson, one of 40 athletes taking part for Alzheimer’s Research UK, said Ironman Wales was his last high-level triathlon.

And he certainly ended it on a high, crossing the finish line underneath the iconic Ironman Wales arch on Tenby’s Esplanade in 09:34:24.

He said: “It was really really good. Such a hard course. Wales is amazing, a real bucket list race. It lived up to everything I’d heard and more.”

Local pride was running high throughout the morning as Tenby’s Olly Simon took the overall lead on the 2.4-mile swim of the North Beach and the 112-mile bike course on its two-loops around the coast and countryside of south Pembrokeshire.

He faced a strong challenge on the four-loop marathon, finishing Ironman Wales in ninth place in a time of 10:02:30.

There was a similar story in the female field , where eventual winner Anna Lawson only overtook Germany’s Rike Kubilius with around an hour to go.

Anna, after crossing the line in 10:35:30, said: “I didn’t know if she was going to push when I went past, so I was like 'please don’t push more', she was so strong."

Ironman Wales will return on Sunday, September 21, 2025.