A lone Ironman who hails from Tenby has thanked family, friends and the town’s people for the ‘overwhelming’ support he received whilst taking on the event route on Sunday.

With Ironman Wales being cancelled again this year, Christian Torkington owner of award-winning hairdressers Guy Christian, committed himself to taking on the challenge of completing the 2.4-mile swim on North Beach, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile marathon in testing weather towards the end on Sunday.

There was plenty of support along the way to cheer Christian (nicknamed Torky)?on, and food stations to keep him going, whilst friends and family even put up an authentic finishing line along The Esplanade, where the athlete was handed a homemade medal on completing the triathlon shortly after 11 pm.

Christian took to social media today (Tuesday) to thank everyone for their support.

“On Sunday, despite Ironman Wales being cancelled, I did the full course. It wasn’t pretty, but I did it!” he said.

“To the best of my knowledge, I was the only athlete to do the full course yesterday, which means I came first! (and last).

“But that’s not the best bit. The best bit was the incredible support I received from people in and around Tenby.

“I was cheered on by people from the side of the road, windows and doorways as I shuffled around the run and honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to complete it without them. Thank you.

“The support and encouragement I’ve had for this has been positively overwhelming and I want to thank you all for coming out!” he added.