Hayden Wilde Adds His Name to the “Race of Legends” Champions List

The Laguna Phuket Triathlon was created 30 years ago by International Management Group (IMG) as a “made for TV” race to promote the Laguna Phuket Resort. With Murphy Reinschreiber, the former “agent to the triathlon stars” in the mix as one of the race organizers, it was easy to see how the race featured some of the sport’s biggest names. Former winners include Paula Newby-Fraser, Michellie Jones, Mike Pigg, Karen Smyers, Simon Lessing, Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno and Melissa Hauschildt. As of this year’s 30th-anniversary, we can add Olympic silver and bronze medalist Hayden Wilde to the list – the Kiwi cruised to a three-minute win. On the women’s side, up-and-coming British star Kate Waugh successfully defended her title.

Bucket List Race

With the resort-promotion concept in mind, the Laguna Phuket race is truly a destination race that serves as a race-cation for athletes and families. The six hotels that make up the resort all provide easy access to the 3 km of pristine beachfront. There are lots of top-notch restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, luxury spas and lots of activities to keep athletes, their families and friends occupied throughout race week.

The race also offers a sprint and 6 km fun run for those not ready to take on the off-distance main triathlon. That event begins with a 1.8-km swim that starts from Bang Tao Beach and heads into the Andaman Sea. After a short run across the beach, athletes then finish the swim across a lagoon. The 50-km bike ride heads out of the resort for a scenic, but very hilly, one-loop effort. The day rounds out with a 12-km run through the resort and along the golf course.

Wilde powers clear on the bike

Great Britain’s Tom Bishop led the way out of the water with his 22:26 split, but Wilde and countryman Tayler Reid were only about 30 seconds back as they started the ride. It was there that Wilde put his stamp on the race, flying through a 1:12:57 bike split that left him well ahead of the rest of the field. He followed that up with a 40:28 run, which got him to the line in 2:19:03. That was a shade over three-minutes ahead of Reid (2:22:13), with Ukraine’s Rostyslav Pevtsov (2:23:03) rounding out the podium. Bishop (2:26:44) would hang on for fourth, while France’s Antony Costes (2:29:00) finished fifth. Former draft-legal swim star Richard Varga (SVK) trailed after the swim and would eventually take sixth overall (2:30:05).

Full results are available here.

Waugh runs her way to a second title

Four women finished the swim together, led by Brit Sian Rainsley, Waugh, Switzerland’s Alanis Siffert and Belgium’s Claire Michel. That group was 90-seconds up on the next athlete out of the water, Ukraine’s Kseniia Levkovska, setting up a four-woman lead group to compete for the podium.

Out on the bike it was Siffert who would prove the strongest, opening up a gap of about 30 seconds to Waugh into T2, with Rainsley starting the run about eight-minutes down and Michel trailing by another two and a half minutes. The Belgian was still almost two-minutes up on Australia’s Dimity-Lee Duke, who had ridden herself into the top five.

Once out on the run Siffert was no match for Waugh, who cruised to the day’s fastest run split (47:25) and a 2:35:39 finish. Siffert (2:39:54) hung tough to take the runner-up spot, with Rainsley (2:43:41) rounding out the podium. Michel (2:46:38) would take fourth, Duke (2:50:15) fifth and Levkovska (2:56:34) would finish sixth.

You can see the full results list here.

The 30th anniversary event was streamed live on YouTube – if you wanted to catch up on the race you can see it below.

Tags: