His club has been running for less than a year, but the expert triathlon coaching of Sion Jenkins has already been recognised at national level.

The 31-year-old, who in January set up the Just Tri group for 7-14 year olds, has been named the Welsh Triathlon Children’s Coach of the Year for 2017.

And as further recognition, Just Tri was shortlisted in the final five for the Club of the Year honour, before narrowly missing out to Ruthin TriStars.

Sion, a seasoned endurance athlete himself, set up Just Tri after doing some coaching work with the Tenby Aces and passing his level two qualification.

And after deciding he wanted to set up something for juniors, he now coaches around 30 youngsters on the astroturf in Tenby every week – with the group also venturing out to regularly undertake training challenges like sea swims on North Beach, or cycling sessions at Carew Karting track.

“The response has been unreal,” he told Telegraph Sport.

“We have about 30 children coming to train every week, and about a dozen of them now compete in the Welsh TriStars series.

“We hold holiday camps as well where we get children from clubs like Bridgend and Port Talbot coming down.”

Sion had no idea he had been nominated for the award until receiving confirmation from Welsh Triathlon he had been shortlisted – and later it was announced an expert panel had adjudged him the winner.

It caps an intense few years in triathlon for the Golden Grove Primary School teacher, who competed in his first Ironman Wales in 2012, and has since represented Team GB in a Long Distance Duathlon in Copenhagen in 2016.

And although he has tapered his own competitive events this past year, he has continued to train and was a late entry for another Ironman Wales event last month.

But for now, it is coaching that is his main focus, and he has no plans to slow down with Just Tri.

“The aim now is to keep the children going and we are currently looking at setting up our own race – as well as getting more members to compete at Welsh TriStars level,” he said.

“It was great we were nominated for club of the year and I was hopeful we would then win it – but it’s a sign of how far we’ve come and the support I’ve had.”

Sion will receive his Children’s Coach of the Year award at the Welsh Triathlon AGM in Sophia Gardens in November.