Laguna Phuket Triathlon

Phuket Triathlon News

Granger and Vodickova to Challenge for Unique Honour 

 This year’s Laguna Phuket Triathlon (LPT) will see an intriguing battle when two elite pro athletes face-off to become the first-ever women’s triple Champion of the iconic event.

Australian Belinda Granger and Czech Olympian Radka Vodickova are among the first pro registrations for LPT 2012 on Sunday 25 November and the Ironman 70.3 Laguna Phuket a week later on Sunday 2 December.

The enduring appeal of LPT, now in its 19^th year, and the unique challenges of Laguna Phuket’s Ironman 70.3 are attracting entries from leading international pro athlete personalities, as well as age groupers worldwide.

In LPT, Laguna veteran Granger, champion in 2008 and 2010, will again find her bid to lift a unique third title threatened by the younger Vodickova, who beat her into second place last year by just over three minutes.

And Vodickova, still buzzing from her London Olympic Games experience with the Czech triathlon team, is keen to repeat her 2009 and 2011wins to crown a memorable season and become LPT’s first three-time women’s Champion, a year after Italian Massimo Cigana achieved that feat in the men’s field.

 Australian Legend.

“To compete for this honour against the legendary Belinda Granger will make it a fantastic race,” she said.

“Belinda was a big part of my first LPT victory – I was inexperienced with the distance and unsure on the bike course, so I just tried to follow Belinda and hoped I could survive her pace.

Ironman 70.3 Champion to Defend Title

In the Ironman 70.3 Laguna Phuket, 2011Champion Melissa Rollison of Australia – now racing under her married name of Melissa Hauschildt – has registered to return to defend her title.

She’s set to face strong challenges from a field that will include Vodickova and Granger, who finished third and eighth respectively last year.