By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
Hayden Wilde has become the first Kiwi male to win the fabled Laguna Phuket Triathlon in Thailand – but was made to wait to celebrate the feat.
The Paris Olympic Games silver medallist and freshly-minted supertri champion won the 30th anniversary edition of the 1.8km swim, 55km bike, 12km run event by three minutes from countryman Tayler Reid.
Indeed, Wilde was so far ahead he even caught race volunteers on the hop at the finish chute.
They weren’t ready for the flying Kiwi so Wilde mimicked grabbing an imaginary finishing tape and lifting it over his head, waiting on the course side of the line while the locals belatedly scrambled into position.
They eventually did and Wilde crossed the line with a real life tape in hand in a time of 2:19:03. Reid was runner-up in 2:22:13 with Ukraine’s Rostyslav Pevtsov snaring the bronze medal in 2:23:03.
Kate Waugh (2:35:39) successfully defended her title, leading home Switzerland’s Alanis Siffert (2:39:54) and fellow Brit Sain Rainsley (2:43:41) in the women’s race.
Wilde added his name to a roll call of Laguna Phuket champions including Greg Welch, Greg Bennett, Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno, Paula Newby-Fraser, Nicole Hackett and Belinda Granger. He’s the second Kiwi to triumph at the beach resort tri after three-time women’s champion Amelia Watkinson (2022, 2017, 2016).
It was a handy training run as Wilde continues his buildup to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Taupo on December 14 (women) and 15 (men). The Andorra-based Whakatane/Tauranga 27-year-old, who has continued his winning ways since cantering to victory in the WTCS season final in Torremolinos, Spain, in late October,
is scheduled to line up in the open category standard distance race at Triathlon Tauranga’s Tinman Triathlon next Sunday (Nov.24) in his final hit out before Taupo.
For Reid, second place represented a thoroughly satisfying end to a season capped with silver medals in Noosa and Phuket after his eye-catching 7th at WTCS Torremolinos. It was also a successful end to his long-standing relationship with coach Stephen Sheldrake, the pair parting ways due to Sheldrake’s role in the Tri NZ High Performance set-up.
