Bolton was an afterthought by Ironman, no way to dress it up, probably the only town that wanted it once Sherbourne kicked it out. I still remember the original announcement as it was “what the fuck” I dont doubt parts of it are lovely up there but branding wise if it was Ironman Lancashire or Ironman Manchester, even with similar course it may do better than Bolton.
Pembrokeshire though is another level of stunning, one of the best parts of the UK and Tenby whilst a typical British seaside town, its got a little more, from the walls of the town, the small winding streets for the run, the lifeboat stations, the rock; the fact the swim got moved in 2011 was a blessing as its another thing to add to the whole day.
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Can’t begin to explain how surreal it was when IMUK came to Sherborne, the sleepy little town of about 12000 people where I happen to live.
Having followed Ironman since the early 90s, as something exotic on TV and in magazines, I was super excited when HIMUK came to (I think) Llanberis
Then before you know it, it’s in Sherborne, literally on my doorstep. The runners went past my doorstep, twice. First HIMUK and then IMUK. It was like a dream come true for a few years. I got involved as a volunteer every year except 2007 when put on big boy pants and entered it.
I was sad when it moved away, and don’t really know why.
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Whatever happened to “pickle juice”?
Better for onions and gherkins apparently.
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or that Matt Evans and Scott Powell - who organised the first IM Wales - live in Tenby?? I know Matt Evans and they paid out a load of money through their event company (Activity Wales) to attract the IM franchise to the town and then got shafted by WTC who took it over the following year but have kept the event there. AW run the Long Course Weekend still.
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that might explain why I saw a guy in T1 after the swim at IM Switzerland open a jar of dill pickles, eat 2, and then leave the rest there.
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I’ve met Matt a few times, top bloke. I hadn’t realised AW was his company, they do a shed load of events!
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Sounds like standard Ironman practice
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yeh - top bloke. we both did our 1st IM in 2005 (IMCH) which is where I met him - I think AW started up not long after.
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Maybe 20 years ago following on from the anecdotal tales of pickle juice there was a lot of study suggesting that the faintest whiff of almost any acidic substance gave instant relief from cramp, but no explanation could be found for how it actually worked. No ingestion or absorption was necessary - it seemed to be a reflex reaction. Haven’t read up anything on it recently so not sure where thoughts are now. Around the same time there was a lot of stuff about buffering lactic acid by micro-dosing using sodium-bicarb or baking soda - don’t know where that ended up either.
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In the mid 90s, it ended up with a cyclist mate of mine having all sorts of gastric distress and vomiting! I didn’t know whether to laugh or be concerned when he tried it; probably needed to micro dose 
I tried pickle juice when I did the Cotswold 226 in 2016. It was useless; I had spare bottles in transition so had two. Some of the worst cramp I’ve ever had and it was no use. It was that bloody log we had to jump over 5 effing times…@buzz will know the one.
I knew a few 400/800m runners that tried bicarb, don’t know what their dosing strategy was, but the verdict was it worked, delayed lactic build up by 50-60m, but you felt like cr*p afterwards. Bit different when your event is 45sec or 1m45s, not the same nutritional issues as endurance events.
The one that looks like it blew down the night before and they didn’t have the chance to move it - only to find out it’s been there about 20 years…
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Think I saw something on bicarb a while back. Along the lines of if you take too much you’ll be rapidly visiting the toilet.
Just two chainsaw cuts…
I think it’s there to stop cars going down that layby.
I’ve heard of rowers using sodium bicarb. In a rowing race you’re probably going anaerobic from about a minute in, so you’re producing lots of lactic acid. Lots of anecdotal tales about when the dosing goes wrong 
Doesn’t everyone use beta-alanine instead of sodium bicard now, for lactate buffering rather than avoiding cramp.
I just use a good pinch of HTFU with a side of JFDI.
#YouGotThisBro
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The crowd will carry you !
Apart from there won’t be one !
You might end up being a Cheshire ledg !
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From memory.
Pickle juice due to the salt causes an interruption in the neurological pathway helping to reduce cramp duration down to less than a minute - anyone that’s known me for a lot of years knows my history with cramp. These days if I get a bad one I crunch a salt tab
Beta Alanine is useful for efforts from 1-4 minutes but nothing more or less than that. So if you wanna do some hard efforts it can help, but you can get itchy
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