American Jesse Thomas and Germany's Anja Beranek took their maiden IRONMAN victories in yesterday’s (Sunday) 5th annual IRONMAN Wales, witnessed by the crowds who had turned out in their thousands to line the streets from start to finish.

Renowned for its challenging course and electric atmosphere between athletes and crowds, IRONMAN Wales didn’t fail to deliver its support for the Pro field who took the plunge at 6.55am and the 1754 registered athletes aged 18 to 76, that closely followed at 7am in a rolling start.

In the men’s field it was Harry Wiltshire (GBR) who quickly set the tone amongst the talented men’s field, leading the way as he exited the 2.4 mile sea swim in 51.55 minutes for an early move, with local hero Olly Simon just a few seconds behind. As they headed up the infamous zig zag climb and 1km run through a roaring Tenby crowd to T1, it was Jesse Thomas (USA), Nick Baldwin (SEY) and Felipe Manente (BRA) who were hot on their heels, with Craig Twigg (GBR) and Markus Thomschke (GER) a further 5 minutes behind.

It wasn’t long before Germany’s strong biker Markus Thomschke and rookie Jesse Thomas were to make their move to join Harry Wiltshire and the trio pushed hard, giving a sensational split on the first 38km marker. Meanwhile Croatia’s Andrej Vistica was also working his way up the field to join them, in a pace that Simon was unable to sustain.

Thomschke set the fastest bike split of the day, covering the testing 112 miles of climbing over 6,000ft which saw him dismount in 04:57:15 in first place, being unable to break clear from Thomas for over 100km. Meanwhile Wiltshire was trailing in 3rd and Croatia’s Vistica was still chasing hard in 4th. Thomschke managed to hold his strong pace which guaranteed him a podium place, but he was not a match for the leg speed of IRONMAN 70.3 Champion Thomas, who despite having never run a marathon distance before, found the strength to produce a sub 3 hour marathon, cruising to the finish in a superb time of 08:57:33, much to the delight of the crowds. The race was now on for 2nd and 3rd place, which Vistica managed to steal from Thomschke at the 28km mark, which he stretched to just over 2 minutes finishing in 08:09:02.

Greeted on the finish line by his wife and family Jesse was emotional but clearly thrilled by his shock result for his first IRONMAN. “The longest I have ever run was 17 miles. It sounds crazy but I entered Wales as I love it tough. After my disappointment at my result at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, this has been the most magical day and a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to racing IRONMAN.”

In the women’s race, Germany’s young performer Anja Beranek, who recently finished third in the 2015 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, dominated the field with a stunning performance from start to finish. Although a strong swim from Carol Bridge (GBR) saw the pair exit together it only took a matter of minutes for closest rival Katja Konschak to move into second place once out on the bike course.

Beranek, clearly a natural athlete, could not be touched on the bike as she steadily pulled away from her rivals and headed into T2 in a phenomenal 5:30:15 (7th overall), having extended the lead to a punchy 32m05s.

With Beranek in a class of her own, the race was on for 2nd and 3rd place between Tineke Van Den Berg (NED), Eleanor Haresign (GBR), Tine Holst (DEN) and Katja Konshcak, all jostling for podium as a close pack. However it was Tineke who managed to hold onto second place with Katja producing the fastest 3:13:50 marathon run to take bronze, finishing in 10:28:22 and 10:29:55 respectively.

Former Pro cyclist Emma Pooley showed that she can hold her own on the bike and the run and continues her transition to triathlon, finishing in a credible 5th place in 10:38:41.

An overjoyed Anja enthused “The supporters were so amazing, I honestly could enjoy every kilometre of the course with their support. After taking 2nd place at IRONMAN Vichy, this has topped everything and I couldn’t help but take time to enjoy the moment and dance my way down the finish line. Thank you to all the crowds and the organisers for an amazing race – I will be back!”

Amongst the thousands of age group athletes, 51% of which were taking part in an IRONMAN for the first time, was rugby legend Shane Williams MBE. Having feared he wouldn’t be able to compete in the race having torn his ligaments just a few weeks ago in training, Shane was exhausted but ecstatic to cross the finish line in 13:43:23 as an IRONMAN, commenting: “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and each discipline was twice as hard as the previous one. The support was absolutely amazing.”

Congratulating the competitors and handing out medals was The Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council Wynne Evans, who commented on the finish line: “Every moment of today’s race and the weekend has been fantastic. The crowds have been amazing throughout with many colourful costumes and the party atmosphere has been absolutely incredible. It’s wonderful to not only welcome so many athletes from around the world but also to see an even greater number of Pembrokeshire residents take up this ultimate challenge.”

Regional Director of IRONMAN, Kevin Stewart, commented on the success of the day: “We’d like to thank Pembrokeshire County Council for enabling us to stage IRONMAN Wales in Tenby and to all the athletes, spectators and volunteers without whom we would never be able to create the phenomenal atmosphere that they bring to the event.”

Entries open for IRONMAN Wales 2016 online at 3pm BST on Monday 14th September.

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