American triathlon legend Ben Hoffman is the reigning and two-time Outrigger Resorts Double award winner and on Sunday, at the XTERRA World Championship, he is looking to prove once again he is the best at both road – and off-road – triathlon.
The Outrigger Resorts Double award is given annually to the elite and amateur man and woman with the fastest combined XTERRA World Championship and Ironman Hawaii Championship time. It’s a challenge fit for the world’s leading endurance athletes as the two events are held just two weeks apart. Elites are awarded $2,500 and
the top amateur man and woman win a 4-night stay at a Maui Outrigger Resort.
On October 14, 2017 in Kona, Hawaii at Ironman Worlds Hoffman finished 9th overall in 8:19:26, more than 30-minutes ahead of the next fastest elite men’s “doubler” Braden Currie, who came in at 8:50:05.
“I’m feeling good now, and just got back into a descent rhythm with my training,” said Hoffman.
“I would love to have a good performance and defend the double title from the past two years, and hopefully improve on my 7th place in Maui from last year.”
Last year, Hoffman finished 4th at Ironman Worlds in 8:13:00 and then 7th at XTERRA Worlds in 3:01:41 to win the double in a head-to-head battle against fellow Ironman and XTERRA great, Sebastian Kienle from Germany. Kienle was three minutes faster than Hoffman in Kona, where he finished second, but Hoffman was six minutes faster than Kienle in Maui. His combined time was 11:14:41, while Kienle combined for a 11:17:46.
“It’s almost the same amount of pain as Ironman, but packed into three hours instead of eight,” said Hoffman after last year’s XTERRA World Championship race. “It was crazy. It might as well have been an Ironman. It felt like some of those moments out there were slow-mo and a real grind. I was definitely calling on the Ironman strength that I had to get through that one.”
While Hoffman and Currie are the only two elite racers qualified to compete for the Double award this year, there are 17 amateur racers from all over the world taking on the challenge, including last year’s amateur men’s champion Pablo Ureta from Argentina. Ureta trails Philipp Widmann by 37-seconds going into Sunday’s race, and Kenji Takeya from Japan is another 12-minutes back. For the women, Verena Eisenbarth has a near 20-minute advantage on Ashley Robota from Arizona.
Here’s a look at the 2017 Outrigger Resorts Double Participants:
Name
Hometown
Division
IM Time
Ben Hoffman
Boulder, CO, USA
PRO / Elite
8:19:26
Braden Currie
Wanaka, New Zealand
PRO / Elite
8:50:05
Philipp Widmann
Esslingen, Germany
M30-34
9:39:15
Pablo Ureta
Cordoba, Argentina
M35-39
9:39:52
Kenji Takeya
Misato, Japan
M45-49
9:51:36
Marco Iseli
Bern, Switzerland
M35-39
10:21:04
Arnaud Bouvier
Digne-les-Bains, France
M50-54
10:22:38
Jose Reyes
Puebla, Mexico
M45-49
10:23:49
Verena Eisenbarth
La roche sur Foron, France
F30-34
10:39:32
Ashley Robota
Tempe, AZ, USA
F30-34
10:57:07
Yannick Antoine
Rulles, Belgium
M40-44
11:14:34
Uta Knape
Ludwigshafen, Germany
F40-44
11:25:38
Jodi Ruby
La Verne, CA, USA
F55-59
12:02:29
Brent Wong
Aiea, HI, USA
M35-39
12:27:13
Thierry Foulounoux
Paris, France
M60-64
12:29:06
Sean Dowling
Honolulu, HI, USA
M55-59
13:21:33
Jennifer Burtner
Olympia, WA, USA
F45-49
13:35:53
Guillermo Jaramillo
Kailua-Kona, HI, USA
M60-64
15:43:35
Mimmo Trudu
Villacidro, Italy
M50-54
15:43:49
The post XTERRA Worlds – Outrigger Resorts Double Update appeared first on XTERRA.
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