Wheyhey and Ironman Staffordshire!

This weekend we headed up to Staffordshire for the first Ironman in the UK series! Ironman is one of the toughest one day competitions in the world. Staffordshire housed the 70.3 Ironman, which is considered a half Ironman… but by no means is this “easy”.

Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire consisted of a 1.2-mile swim in Chasewater reservoir and a 56-mile bike course through the stunning countryside outside Lichfield, Burton-upon-Trent and across Cannock Chase area of outstanding natural beauty. The race concludes with a 13.1 mile run which started and finished at the historic Shugborough country estate (blimey we are tired just writting this), the former ancestral home of Lord Lichfield, a renowned royal photographer and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

The weather was not on our side for Saturdays Ironman kids and Ironman Expo however we donned our rain ponchos and we were ready to refuel the Ironkids! But luckly Saturdays downpour meant we were looking promising for a dry Sunday.

As promised by the Ironman team… the sun surely did shine on Sunday. It wasn’t long till we started to see bodies appear on the iconic red carpet.

The £25,000 first prize was won by Javier Gomes, the 2012 Olympic Triathlon silver medalist and current Ironman World Champion. He completed the race in 4 hrs, 2 minutes and 13 seconds. Lucy Gossage, from Nottingham, won the women’s event in 4 hours, 31 minutes and nine seconds!

We were ready and waiting in the athletes tent to refuel the competitors as they cruised through the finish line looking like they had just been for a short run. Wheyhey was most definitely well received and more importantly massively deserved! We had a fantastic time at Ironman, bring on the next one!