Apr 18 2007
About
In September of 2007 Ben Collins began his career as a professional triathlete. His rookie year will follow a well publicized amateur record, including two national titles and an Amateur World Title.
Ben began racing triathlons as a hobby in 2006 while working in Honolulu for a small engineering firm where he designed autonomous underwater vehicles. It was there that he met his coach, Dr. Michael McMahon, who had previously coached an Olympic champion and other elite athletes. The direction of a knowledgeable coach turned triathlon from a local hobby to an international career for Ben. In just over a year Ben has been named All-American, and Best Amateur Triathlete under 30 by USAT and Inside Triathlon Magazine, respectively. In 2006 Collins finished second at Nationals, and a crash at the World Championships took him out of the competition after he established more than a two minute lead over the rest of the field. Ben was treated for a dislocated clavicle and a broken wrist, and sentenced to eight weeks of recovery.
Ben remained an amateur in 2007 in order to gain more experience while attempting to take the overall win at both Nationals and Worlds. He also left sunny Honolulu for his hometown, Seattle, where he could attend University of Washington in preparation for a graduate program in medicine. The former Ivy- League Champion swimmer, who was twice named Academic All-Ivy, proved he was still a scholar-athlete. Before winning both the 2007 National and 2007 World Championships, Collins finished the school year with a 3.92 GPA in his premed coursework.
Wikipedia contributors, “Ben Collins (triathlete).”Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Collins_%28triathlete%29 (Accessed Sept 17,2007)
