UKC

For anyone planning to climb at Pembroke this Sunday, note that almost all the roads will be closed due to the South Wales Ironman. It will be very difficult if not impossible to drive to the crags on Sunday morning from 7 30 am until about lunchtime.

It seems ridiculous that a race for the benefit of a few hundred competitors denies everyone else in the Pembroke area the freedom to travel and enjoy the area. But there you have it.

It doesn't seem ridiculous to a lot of the locals who enjoy the event and benefit from the boost to local tourism. Having lived and worked in South Pembrokeshire for 12 years it has been great to see the increase in the number of locals and visitors out on bikes, running and swimming. 

Of course there are some locals who do resent the road closures but it really isn't much of a deal that you can't drive your car down a few roads for 8 hours one day per year. We have plenty of notice so it is pretty easy to plan your day around this.

If you are desperate to climb in South pembs on Sunday, get up early, weather is looking good. Alternatively climb in North pembs that isn't affected.

Having a lot of the best crags in the area closed for military reasons on about 250 days of the year is a bigger thing to be annoyed about to my mind.

Well said. An excellent event that has provided a massive influx of finance through tourism, promoted various exercise and leisure activities and a bloody good day out to watch too! I'll have a climb Sunday and then by mid afternoon be outside the pub cheering them through the marathon. 

A massive influx of one sort at the expense of finance and an influx of another sort.

As someone who lives in a non-pictureskew place that gets a lot of this sort of thing (several road closures each year plus all the rest) it's a pain in the arse and of zero benefit to the locals. 

That said, it is merely a pain in the arse here.  I'd be a lot more upset if it stopped me going to a world class crag or obstructed world class beauty or was somewhere wild. 

It's a tri, it's portable! hold it in Swansea or the Valleys, somewhere where the locals would get more "benefit" and somewhere which lacks the amenity to deprive others.

I can't comment on the road closures in your area, but in Pembrokeshire this event (and the other big one, the long course event in July) do bring a lot of benefit to a lot of locals. 

A lot of business benefit and few suffer as the event is in a Sunday. A lot of locals enjoy the event and have been inspired to get more active themselves.

That's balanced by some locals and visitors who resent not being able to drive their cars on every road that they want to for half a day. I think there are more locals in favour than against.

You are unlikely to be able to devise an event that only has positives. Where I live is affected by the road closures but I can plan around these and can see the many benefits the event brings to the area. 

We have been here all week and were planning to leave on Sunday anyway. The only inconvenience to us is that we have to get out early. 

My main complaint is the extent of the road closures. Far from wanting to drive down every road, we just want to get out! 

You may be a local and can climb here whenever you want, but others live a long way away. It may be just one day to you, but for others who have travelled a long distance it might be the only visit to Pembroke in the year. 

That this event has taken over an entire area of relatively remote natural beauty, practically to the exclusion of all other activities, does seem extraordinarily selfish.

I've been in Chamonix when the mountain marathons are on and that has nothing like the road closures that are happening around here.

I hope you enjoyed your trip, great weather for the end of the week, we might have seen each other on Friday as it looks like you were climbing at st govans, as was I.

Still got to differ with your opinion. I went into Tenby today and there were thousands of people enjoying the place the atmosphere and putting money into the local economy (of which tourism is the main stay), it will be the same again tomorrow. As opposed to maybe 100 climbers inconvenienced a little bit. You can still drive to st govans before 7am, and most important roads will be open again by 1pm.

I'm not surprised some people who are directly  effected ares a bit pissed off, but I would have hoped that most consider that it is overall a major benefit to the area.

Sorry if I'm getting boring, but an interesting article in the new York Times about the great benefits the event has brought to the area and to the local population.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/sports/ironman-triathlon-tenby-wales.htm...