Hoffman out to win yet again

American competitor all fired up to make it three victories in Ironman African Champs Two-time Standard Bank Ironman African Championship winner Ben Hoffman will be chasing a hat-trick of titles when he arrives in Port Elizabeth next month. The American professional, from Grand Junction, Colorado, will make his way to South Africa today as he prepares to make his debut in the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike endurance race – a seven-day event starting on Table Mountain on Sunday. After that, Hoffman will travel to Port Elizabeth for the Ironman African Championship at Pollok Beach on April 15. Last year, Hoffman crossed the finish line in a time of seven hours, 58 minutes and 40 seconds to clinch his second African title in a row after winning in 2016. Speaking on a pre-recorded video clip shown at the launch of the championship in PE yesterday, Hoffman said he was thrilled to be heading to South Africa again.

“I am really excited to come back to that beautiful country and give my best in the race,” he said “I think it will be an awesome experience to be there for that period and do a little training in Stellenbosch between the events. “I am looking forward to trying something new with the Cape Epic and then seeing if I can defend my title of the past two years in Port Elizabeth.” Global Ironman announcer Paul Kaye believes that despite Hoffman’s being in a tough professional pool of triathletes for this year’s African Champs, the American could be even more dangerous this year. “Ben Hoffman has won it twice. He knows how to win it. “He trusts himself and he loves the course and he loves the support,” Kaye said yesterday. “But Ben is doing something different. He is doing the Cape Epic, after which he will have a two-week rest before he comes here for the African Champs. “That is an unknown for Ben. It will be wonderful for him to draw the attention away from the intense Ironman training. “I think it’s going to make him more dangerous. I think he is going to get here fresh and very hungry. “So Ben Hoffman is looking good to defend his title,” Kaye said. The Ironman event, in its 14th edition, has grown immensely, attracting more than 800 international athletes this year out of the 2 200 entries. Ironman race director Paul Wolff said the number of entries for last year’s race was 2 000, 700 of them international athletes. He said this year’s race had the biggest field yet and was sold out. Wolff said the course had not been changed, but there would be a different finish line feel. “There are a lot of things that we are trying out for the World Championship that we will be experiencing in September,” he said. “If we want to grow the race in the future and make it bigger, we will have to look for an alternative route, because this route cannot take more than the 2 200 people we have at the moment. “With it selling out this year, it has left me in a quandary to see what I am going to do next year. “If those numbers will carry on improving as they have, we will have to look for an alternative site next year.”