Ben Hoffman

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Born and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado, I was a member of numerous athletic teams in high school, running track, playing golf, basketball, and soccer. I moved to Montana for continued education, and got my start in triathlon in 2004 as a university student racing for the school team in Missoula. After my first year of racing, I took a year off to live and travel in Argentina. During my second season of racing, in the spring of 2006, I was crowned USA Triathlon Collegiate National Champion in Reno, leading the way to a National Title for the university team. That summer, I hit the road to race with a good friend throughout the Northwest, gaining enough experience and results to earn my pro card and begin training more intensely for the challenges of racing against the best triathletes in the world.

Looking for a place that would satisfy my need to train at altitude and surround myself with like-minded world-class athletes, I made the move to Durango, Colorado. Nestled in the beautiful San Juan mountains, I began a rigorous training regimen that would eventually bring me some promising results. My professional debut was at Wildflower, near San Luis Obispo, California. Known as one of the largest, most difficult and competitive races worldwide, I finished 3rd (first American professional), and captured yet another accolade, being crowned the USA Triathlon Elite Long Course National Champion for 2007. This earned me a berth for the ITU Long Course World Championships in France, setting the tone for a series of excellent results in my first year as an elite.

Since that first professional season, I have continued racing and training at a high level, notching some top finishes at 70.3's and posting an 8:24:13 debut Ironman at Arizona last year. This season will be focused on racing Ironman Hawaii in Kona this fall, but will still see a full schedule of shorter distance racing to prepare me for the World Championships. Follow my blog for all the latest race reports and updates from my season.

1st Place Xterra Four Corners.

June 7, 2010

This past weekend marked my return to off-road triathlon racing. By return, I mean that it was my second time racing an Xterra event, and it had been over two years since the last one. I would honestly like to make more time for racing these events, as I really like the atmosphere and the change of pace, but it rarely works out with my on-road schedule. This past weekend was an exception, and after pre-riding the course on Friday, I got up super early Saturday to drive down with fellow Durango triathlete, Dave Rakita.

We got our transitions set up quickly, but it was hard for me to wrap my head around the reversal of events. This Xterra was a swim, run, bike, and had separate transition areas, so it was definitely something new. The permitting for the race only allows 150 people to compete on the legendary Road Apple trail systems, so it was a relatively small event with quite a few first timers. This made the swim start pretty manageable, so I got out clear with a few other swimmers, and settled into a comfortable pace. The plan was to put as much time into my pursuers as possible during the swim and run, and then be able to take the bike conservatively and avoid crashes.

I came out in 4th position, with the swim leader about a minute up on our group. I wouldn't say that I felt great, but after some big training in the week leading up, and no taper, I was happy with the effort. By the one mile mark I was running in first position, and I kept on the gas for the full distance to put it out of reach. The first lap of the bike I took out pretty fast, and then put it on cruise control and made sure not to go down for the last 7-8 miles.

It was nice to switch things up a little and race on the trails, and if I can fit it in, I'd like to do a cup race later in the year, perhaps the US Champs in Ogden. Before that though, it's a taper week, Boise 70.3, some hard training with Buffalo Springs 70.3 thrown in, and then Ironman Lake Placid in late July. Weather has turned perfect in Durango, so I'm looking forward to this big block of work. Full gas!

Link to the Farmington newspaper article:

http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-sports/ci_15237968?source=email

Stats for Ben Hoffman are coming soon.
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