Race Coverage

Casey & Sheena Repeat at G-Man...

Sunday, 10 July 2016 23:10

ED. Hey Everyone, check out Frank Rajkowski's great sctimes.com coverage of yesterday's Graniteman Triathlon.

Photo and Story by Frank Rajkowski (sctimes.com)

CLEARWATER — Nate Hoffman had not won a triathlon in four years.

And the Annandale High School graduate, and former Division III All-American cross country runner at Wisconsin-La Crosse, was blunt when asked the reason why.

"I'm just a really poor swimmer," he said....

But the 33-year-old South Haven resident, who won the Earth Day half-marathon this past April, has been working on the swimming portion of his training at the YMCA in St. Cloud.

And that work paid off Sunday morning as Hoffman won the long-course title at the Graniteman Clearwater Triathlon held at Warner Lake County Park.

The winning time was 2:14.12. The long course consisted of a .9-mile swim, a 28.66-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.

"That was the secret of my success today," Hoffman said. "I always get out of the water so far behind in these things that I can't catch up. But I could tell about halfway through my swim that things were going well."

Next up for Hoffman is the Heart of the Lakes Triathlon next Sunday in Annandale.

"That's my hometown race and I want to do well there," he said.

"Winning may be impossible. It always draws such great competition. But the swim itself isn't as long as the one here today. And that course really does tend to favor runners."  READ MORE