Australians show iron will to reign supreme at Samui Triathlon
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Australian triathletes Atkinson Courtney and Melissa Hauschildt won the men's and women's titles in the Bt4-million Samui Triathlon yesterday.
More than 200 competitors from 22 countries took part in the gruelling 4km swim, 122.65km cycle ride and 30km run. The total distance of 156.65km was reportedly the longest ever in an Asia Pacific triathlon meet.
A duathlon featuring a 40km bike ride and a 10km run was also held on the day. Both races kicked off at the Hansa Hotel beachfront and culminated at Ban Thon in Samui Island.
Atkinson, who was 18th in the 2012 London Olympics, took an even six hours for his victory and earned Bt800,000 in prize money.
“The competition route here is very tough and difficult. My victory today proved that,” said Atkinson, who was making his debut in the event.
Second and third in the men’s race went to Allen Ben of Australia and Spanish Marcel Zamora Perez respectively.
Hauschildt led the women across the finish line in six hours, 10 minutes, followed by Australian Liz Blatchford and last year’s champion Caroline Steffen of Switzerland.
“I never thought I could win [here] but finally I did it,” said the 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Champion. Hauschildt claimed Bt500,000 in prize money.
Koh Samui Mayor Ramnet Jaikwang said he was keen on raising the profile of the race to international standards to help promote tourism in the province. He said that in the future the island may have to divert traffic to facilitate the competition.
Vijit Sithinavin, president of Triathlon Association, said he was eyeing an expansion of the competition on two levels – the Asia and the global. “We may have to shut down the island [for the bigger competitions],” he said.
The triathlon was organised by Koh Samui, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways, Singha Corporation and Bangkok Airways, and was followed by a global TV audience via Euro Sport, Sports Plus and TV5 Monde, with local channels also covering the action.
