The 2011 Laguna Phuket Triathlon has reportedly smashed through the 1000 entries barrier for the first time in its 18-year history to underline Phuket’s growing reputation as a top-class international triathlon destination. With a total of 1078 athletes from 41 countries registered – 985 individual entries and 31 relay teams – Sunday’s race in Phuket, Thailand, is shaping up to be the biggest and best to date.
The Laguna Phuket Triathlon begins at 6.30am local time on Sunday 27 November. A three-wave swim start kicks off at the Laguna Beach Resort beachfront on Bang Tao Beach. The swim distance is 1.8K, with a 100m beach sprint to swim the last 620m across a lagoon. The bike course is 55K and the run course is a 12K route around the Laguna Phuket complex.
Alongside high-calibre professional athletes, Laguna Phuket Triathlon is also renowned for personal achievements made by hundreds of age group triathlon devotees.
Among the 985 age group category entries, Hong Kong leads the field with 260 entries of country nationals and expats – and Thailand is second with 217, demonstrating its growing triathlon enthusiasm. Other regional countries such as Singapore, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan are all strongly represented, as well as the US, Britain and Australia.
There are also Phuket event entries representing more far-flung countries such as Argentina, Norway, Luxembourg and Latvia.
The Phuket event’s age group categories contain entries that demonstrate triathlon’s unique appeal across all ages and nationalities. In the male line-up, the youngest Phuket event entrant is 18-year-old Victor Kirstein of Denmark and the oldest is 74-year-old Wilf Deck of Australia. In the female category, the youngest entrant is 18-year-old Lauren Smith of Australia and the oldest is 62-year-old Lenore McLaughlin of the US.
Another Phuket veteran is 62-year-old Australian Brian Hardaker, who is returning to compete in his 17th Laguna Phuket Triathlon.
The Laguna Phuket Triathlon is a curtain-raiser to the second Phuket Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship, which will be staged at Laguna Phuket a week later on Sunday 4 December. The Laguna Phuket Triathlon also kicks off the week-long Tri-Fest carnival of sporting and social activities at Laguna Phuket leading up to the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship.
Michael Ayling, Managing Director of Laguna Resorts and Hotels, said ”Our Laguna Phuket Triathlon is established as an annual event that draws hundreds of triathlete devotees from all corners of the globe to our paradise island. It also draws many people from local Phuket communities together to help us stage the event.
”We’re very appreciative of the support we receive from the Phuket provincial government and its communities that enables this internationally-renowned triathlon to take place so successfully.”
