Dirty Sanchez Star to take part in IRONMAN Wales

By Paul Moore
Published January 30, 2012

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TV star Matthew Pritchard has announced that he will be taking part in this year’s IRONMAN Wales race in September. A Welsh professional skateboarder, daredevil and one quarter of the Dirty Sanchez crew, Pritchard is used to taking on new and different challenges, and he now wants to add Ironman to his list. However, he isn’t new to endurance sport – having taken part in IRONMAN UK last year and numerous sporting challenges since then including running a marathon (in full fireman kit) and running a half marathon for each day of November to raise money for charity.

So, on 16^th September 2012 Pritchard will be joining 1800 other athletes at the coastal town of Tenby, Pembrokeshire to take part in the second instalment of IRONMAN Wales. Located on Wales’ southwest coast, Pembrokeshire is best known for the breath-taking landscape of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, featuring miles of sandy beaches and a spectacular coastline. The race offers a challenging but scenic course, weaving through quaint towns and alongside picturesque beachfronts before an atmospheric finish in the centre of Tenby.

So what sparked the change in Pritchard, why is he transforming himself from a life of dangerous stunts and extreme activities to Ironman endurance racing?

Pritchard said, ‘I decided last year that I was going to race IRONMAN UK in Bolton, and I really enjoyed it, so much so, I went straight ahead and booked in for Ironman Wales this year.’ He continued, ‘To race an Ironman in my home country is the icing on the cake – I am really excited about taking part.’

He has great expectations for his future in endurance sport and spoke confidently about his goals, continuing, ‘I would really love to race at Kona one day, and hope to take part in lots more races in the meantime. I have many challenges planned and am excited about what the future holds for me’ He continued, ‘This year I am planning an additional challenge with my brother – a challenge that we are calling “The Triggathon UK” this is to swim the 10 miles across lake Windermere before jumping on our bikes and cycling within 26 miles of our hometown Cardiff. Then we will both run a marathon to finish it all off.’ This is a crazy challenge by anyone’s expectations, but it is just a warm-up for Matthew, who said ‘In 2013 we are going to complete “Triggathlon Europe”, swimming the channel, cycling across France then running across Spain so as you can see we have a lot planned.’

Pritchard is clearly not leaving much time to rest, and is going to be pretty busy for the next 12 months. His training for IRONMAN Wales has already begun and he is determined to finish in a stronger position than his first race at IRONMAN UK last year.

It is still possible to race alongside Pritchard at IRONMAN Wales 2012, and more information can be found at www.ironmanwales.com. For athletes who wish to race for a special cause, Scope and the RNLI also have a number of fundraising places available. For more details about entering the race as ‘Team Scope’ visit www.scope.org.uk, or ‘Team Lifeboat at www.rnli.org.uk.

FILED UNDER: News / Press Releases TAGS: dirty sanchez / ironman wales / matt pritchard