ANDY Sloan produced a personal best time whilst competing in Ironman France in Nice.

The personal trainer from Weymouth lined up alongside 2,700 other competitors at the event and completed the 2.4-mile open water sea swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2 mile marathon in 10 hours 44mins to finish 298th overall.

The cycle leg included almost 2,000m of climbing and a 21km uphill stretch, which was pretty brutal, while the run was a four-lap course up and down the Promenade des Anglais.

With the temperature reaching the late 20s and early 30s it was a gruelling challenge but Sloan was happy with his overall performance.

He said: “The swim was pretty horrendous. With almost 3,000 people starting at the same time it was a bit savage.

“I managed to get out of the water in an hour which was my target but during the first lap I actually had my GPS watch knocked off my wrist so that wasn’t a great start.

“When that happened I just started laughing and cracked on.

“On the bike, I managed to hit my time target and came off in 5hrs 24mins but due to dehydration I’d been unable to take on hardly any fuel since about mile 40, as every time I went to feed, I felt horribly sick as my body was rejecting anything I was trying to put in.

“This meant that getting onto the run I was pretty drained, dehydrated, with barely any gas in the tank, and feeling as sick as hell any time I tried to feed.

“So I ended up having a disappointing marathon of 4hrs 8mins, which is about 45 minutes slower than I should have run.

“To be honest, having seen the amount of people struggling on the side of the road, I was just happy to get over the line by that stage. The heat made it such a brutal race.

“I still finished with a PB of 10hrs 44mins which was good enough for 298th overall, so it was a respectable finish. I am relatively content with the result but also pretty gutted at the same time.

“My attention now turns to Ironman UK on July 22 where I’ll be heading to Bolton with my four couch-potato-to-Ironman competitors, who are currently in the final stages of their training ready to take on the challenge.”

Sloan’s personal training company, Procision Fitness, can be contacted on 07843438173 or email andy@procisionfitness.com. Alternatively, visit procisionfitness.com for more information.