‘World class sports hotel’ Thanyapura Phuket in Thailand is set to host its ‘most advanced triathlon training camp ever’ this August. The camp is offering a select number of participants a high performance tune-up ahead of key target races – such as the Ironman 70.3 World Championship and Ironman World Championship.
With September’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Quebec and October’s Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, at the forefront of the minds of serious triathletes the world over, Thanyapura Executive Chairman Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack – a two-time Kona winner – has announced that he will lead this year’s Super Camp personally.
Macca said the Super Camp – taking place on 23-30 August – offers triathletes the chance to train alongside some of the best professionals in the world, with a programme devised by McCormack himself and fellow Ironman legend Jurgen Zack, Thanyapura’s Triathlon Senior Head Coach.
“I like to call it a pro fantasy camp,” McCormack said. “It’s a camp that the pros will use in the build up to Kona, and it’s a camp that I did last year. Anyone who’s been to Anyapura knows that we have elite personnel and facilities. We have Andrea Capellari, a mind-conditioning coach to build mental strength and positivity.”
He continued, “We’ve got an outstanding strength and conditioning programme; we do baseline blood work, we have arguably the best 50m swimming pool in Asia, probably the only 500m running track in the world; and the cycling opportunities in the area are ideal.
“The hot conditions will prepare athletes to better handle Kona’s stifling heat; and it’s also a useful tune-up and progress checkpoint for those looking ahead to the Laguna Phuket Tri-Fest events in late November.”
Thanyapura’s 23-hectare megaplex is a regular training base for – among other triathlon stars – two-time world champion Caroline Steffen, Ronnie Schildknecht and Australian Hall of Famer Belinda Granger.
McCormack knows better than most the agony and ecstasy of racing at Kona, winning his first title there in 2007, after coming a close second the year before, and failing to finish in his first and third attempts in 2002 and 2004. In 2005 he finished 6th, making the sport sit up and take notice with the fastest run split of the race. McCormack was again triumphant in 2010, defeating two-time defending champion Craig Alexander in an all-Australian battle for honours.
Thanyapura attracts athletes of all levels looking to ‘better their performance and get more out of life’, with Olympic-standard facilities and a world-class stable of coaches, sports scientists, sports psychologists, dieticians, physiotherapists and chiropractors. The venue has everything underpinned by Thanyapura’s unique ‘three-dimensional coaching model for the mind, body and soul’.
The 77-room Thanyapura Sports Hotel provides comfortable, quiet and modern rooms, high quality organic food and special athletes’ menus. Thanyapura Health’s integrated medical treatments and therapies from chiropractic services to physiotherapy are available for those battling injury. Highly trained massage therapists are also on hand to provide transformative sports treatments.
The pristine environment offers clean air and fast, open roads while beautiful beaches and the Phuket International Airport are a short drive away.
The Super Camp will also feature a motivational evening with McCormack and Zack, with video analysis, swim and run technique analysis, ice baths, a round trip airport transfer and mind training sessions.
“As you must have worked out already, Thanyapura is not a normal sports and wellness destination,” McCormack said. “It uses the most sophisticated methods to get the very best out of the body and mind. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that. My whole life has been governed by the pursuit of excellence, and that is Thanyapura’s ethos too.”
McCormack, who still competes at the top level at age 41, was once dubbed by ESPN as the fittest man on Earth, and has won more than 220 international races while becoming one of a handful of triathletes to be crowned ITU Olympic-distance World Champion (short course) and Ironman World Champion (long course).
The Thanyapura Triathlon Super Camp costs THB 45,000 (approximately US$1,400) or Twin Share at THB33,800 (approximately US$1,100). Interested parties can contact reservations[at]thanyapura.com.
