Q & A
FULL NAME: Paul Benjamin Hodel Collins
NICKNAME(S):
(Columbia Swim Team): Hodel (my middle name, purposefully mispronounced “Hodle”)
(Volcano Triathlon Team): S$%t-Break (something to do with my love of bran cereal)
(Pokorny Family): Uncle Huli Chicken (Why not?)
Just call me Ben
MARITAL STATUS:
Eligible
DATE OF BIRTH:
June 27, 1983
WEB PAGE:
Wait, really?
BIRTHPLACE:
Seattle, WA
CURRENT RESIDENCE:
Also Seattle, but I’m back via New York, and Honolulu.
EDUCATION:
Garfield HS (my inner-city public school kicks your private schools butt)
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University
currently doing Post-bacc at University of Washington and North Seattle Community College
HEIGHT:
5′9″ (without the afro)
WEIGHT:
160
FAVORITE RACE:
Either Lavaman (Kona, Hawaii) or the Nationals course at Hagg Lake. Any course that is visually pleasing, and physically brutal (surf, hills, lavarock, etc.)
FAVORITE TRAINING RIDE:
Tantalus, Honolulu, HI (5 miles, 2,000 ft., with views of UH campus, Downtown Honolulu, Diamond Head, and the ocean.)
ANY MENTORS:
Michael McMahon
Loren Pokorny
Kurt Chambers
Chet the Jet (the guy has never eaten a fruit or a vegetable in his life.)
FAVORITE RACE FOOD:
Oatmeal with raisins
WORST EXPERIENCE IN A RACE:
I rolled a tubular tire at Worlds in 2006, broke my wrist, fixed the flat (after about 15 minutes of searching for the missing valve extender that turned out to be inside the 808 rim), continued to ride, though I’d clearly lost my 2.5 minute lead, came to the same spot on the next lap, got nervous and let a faster rider turning on my inside push me into the same barricade that I had moved while looking for my valve extender 15 minutes earlier. This time I dislocated my clavicle, and bought myself a rather expensive ambulance ride to a Swiss ER.
FUNNY MOMENTS IN A RACE:
not so many funny triathlon stories. There was a bit of a stalker on Oahu, however. He would come up to me after races and tell me he how much he hated me, and how he would beat me, then drive off blasting classical music out of his mini-van. One morning he showed up at my friends house trying to get a ride to the Mountain Man Triathlon, that I was doing as a relay runner. My friend had to distract him, then run away and hop in the car before the guy could catch him. At the race we heard that this guy had already been into one of the local bike shops and tried to steal a tri-suit (after telling everyone that he would be the next world champion), but was run off by the owner. Just as the story was being told, however, we hear commotion in the transition area, and see that there’s a guy sitting by Chad Seymores bike, wearing a filthy white t-shirt and no shoes, and letting everyone know he was going to win the race. The race director, Raul Boca jogged over to talk to the guy, but before anything was resolved, the man took Chad’s shoes and ran off into the jungle. That was the last I heard of him, and I’m pretty sure Chad never got his shoes back.
Favorite EATS:
Salmon, Fruit, and Frozen Yogurt, but not all together.
What’s in my IPOD?
KEXP Song of the day Podcast (100s of them)
NPR Podcasts (Today, Freshair, etc.)
IF I WASN’T A TRIATHLETE I’D BE…:
Something way less fun.
QUOTE TO LIVE BY:
Try anything twice, and if you can’t find a reason why, just do it for the story.
