Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2011

Since I started Triathlon many years ago I read about the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, in that time it was Mike Pigg, Simon Lessing and Greg Welch the guys winning the race, Obviously it was not even a dream doing that race in such an Exotic place like Thailand..... Time went by and then guys like Craig Alexander and Greg Bennet came to win the race, this only made it more a "Mystique Race"

So Arriving to Phuket Thailand was already an accomplishment by itself, the place blew my mind from the beginning, my second time in Asia and it was a pleasure to see the same kind of Friendly and Happy People, as in Malaysia, everyone is super kind and you can feel the good vibe all around you.
Phuket is an island in South Thailand, the Beaches are "AMAZING" is like a dream, and there are thousands of them...
But let's get back to the Laguna Phuket Triathlon....... it's a very particular race.
The swim starts in the ocean, then you run in the beach just to jump into a Lagoon to swim the last 600 meters of the 1.8k, The 55kms Bike Course has a Gnarly Set of Leg Killer Hills at the beginning, some of them with a mind boggling 22% incline! Yes! 22% (according to Garmin)
And it ends with a 12km Run in a mix of Hot and Sunny Pavement, and a hard Grass Golf Course...

I did what my Coach Justin Granger told me, I got there with a 27 tooth cogset to save my legs for the run (and to be able to climb those hills)
I had a great swim at the feet of a faster swimmer than me, came out of the water fresh in 29 minutes and got into my bike getting in some nutrition as fast as possible before hitting the hills at around km6.
When we hit the Hills I took my time and tried to go as smooth as possible and always in the saddle, I saw others grind them selves up like maniacs, I let them go..... after 7 or 8 kms of hills we got to the Rolling Hills around the Airport area, I started to pass all of this guys, we were only 16kms in and they already had fried legs, then after the town I saw I was in a good position Overall, so it was hard to keep my cool, I wanted to go faster and I could, but I also wanted to have a good run...

The rest of the 55kms were between little towns and plantation areas, in some towns the School Kid were lining on the side of the road screaming and Cheering, that was a great energy boost!
By the way. Those part of plantation areas were Hot and Humid as Hell, but the truth is that it was not as "Hellish" as almost everyday in the Queen K......

My 55k Bike split was a solid 1:32 and I'm quite happy with it,  I started the Run with a 3:55km just from the excitement of seeing the Transition Area in a such a Beautiful place, and from seeing Paola and Joana who were cheering on me, it was also great to be that far away and realized that I have already quite few friends, so hearing my name in other parts of the Run Course was also very positive and energizing, in the next few kms I found a rhythm of 4:05 for the kms that were flat and 4:15 for the ones that were on the spongy grass of the rolling golf course....

It was a 2 lap course of 6km each, and when I got to the second loop Paola told me that I had to hurry up if I wanted a podium, She screamed 3 minutes from second place, I knew that if she didn't told me my placing it was because I was out of the podium, so for the first time I did a Negative Split Run during a Race, I didn't catch a place in the podium, but I'm satisfied with my race, the Run split for the 12kms was 49:50 and looking at the others my total time was right there... Maybe not enough but close..... I fell short for 37 seconds for a 3rd place and 1:06 for a 2nd place (The 1st place smoked us by  3-4 minutes)
I finished in 14th Overall (with 5 Pros) and 5th in my Age Group, But the truth is that when I say I'm satisfied I really mean motivated to train harder............

..........1- Massimo Cigana PRO ITA Swim 27:43 Bike 1:18 Run 43:54 Total Time 2:32:51

.........2- Alberto Cassadei PRO ITA Swim 24:21 Bike 1:24 Run 45:31 Total Time 2:36:56

.....3- Romain Guillaume PRO FRA Swim 24:59 Bike 1:25 Run 43:55 Total Time 2:37:08

..4- Frederik Cronenburg PRO SWE Swim 26:23 Bike 1:26 Run 43:45 Total Time 2:38:10

....5- Todd Spackman M-18-24 AUS Swim 27:14 Bike 1:30 Run 44:00 Total Time 2:43:42

.............6- Justin Granger PRO AUS Swim 27:04 Bike 1:30 Run 48:07 Total Time 2:48:04

......7- Thomas Braun M-40-44 GER Swim 27:04 Bike 1:28 Run 51:58 Total Time 2:50:49

8- Benjamin Webeck M-30-34 AUS Swim 29:35 Bike 1:30 Run 49:12 Total Time 2:51:28

.........9- Richard Hall M-40-44 GBR Swim 28:41 Bike 1:32 Run 49:18 Total Time 2:53:06

............10-Luca Figini M-40-44 ITA Swim 28:59 Bike 1:31 Run 49:26 Total Time 2:53:30

....11- Chris Bradford M-35-39 AUS Swim 29:16 Bike 1:30 Run 50:45 Total Time 2:53:36

....12- Timothy Smith M-25-29 NZL Swim 31:53 Bike 1:30 Run 48:41 Total Time 2:53 57

.................13- Ashley Dyer M-40-44 GBR 28:45 Bike 1:32 Run 50:34 Total Time 2:54:06

............14-Jano Soto M-40-44 MEX Swim 29:03 Bike 1:32 Run 49:52 Total Time 2:54:12