IRONMAN Wales 2026

Darth Marty Media was commissioned by two of the leading elite athletes competing at IRONMAN Wales 2026, with the brief of capturing far more than simply their race – the preparation, effort, emotion and story of their day.

With the cameras already out, it seemed ridiculous not to capture the wider event too. Over the course of 17½ hours, from around 6am until nearly midnight, I photographed hundreds of amateur athletes alongside the professionals, from the early morning anticipation to the bike course, marathon and those emotional final finishes in Tenby.

IRONMAN Wales is an incredible sporting event, but what interested me most was the human side of it. Exhaustion, determination, families waiting for their athlete, strangers screaming encouragement, volunteers, celebrations, pain, relief and some wonderfully unguarded moments when people simply forgot there was a camera pointing at them.

The resulting collection became less about photographing a triathlon and more about documenting what it actually feels like to be part of IRONMAN Wales.

The professionals may have been the reason I was there. The thousands of individual stories unfolding around them were the reason I stayed for 17½ hours.