Faces of Hall County: Ben Hefner

From Lake Lanier to ocean engineering in the future; local sprint canoer Ben Hefner has his sights set for the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio, and beyond.

Ben, a Clermont native and North Hall High graduate, is training in Florida with the Canadian National team for the chance to represent the United States in the c-1 200 m sprint this summer.

We recently caught up with Ben to find out more about his training, his love of Lake Lanier and the future.

Question: How is your current training going for the 2016 Olympics?

Answer: “I’ll be here (Florida) until late April before the U.S. Trials in Gainesville and I’ll come up about one week before the race. The U.S. Trials qualifies me for the U.S. spot but the U.S. doesn’t necessarily have a spot in the Olympics, I will have to go represent the U.S. in the Pan American Games and then the American qualifier one month later. I train two, three, four times a day depending on the day, usually in the weight room or on the water; mostly on the water. I race 200 meters, so I do a lot of weights, as well.

“I was in the development program for young kids and I came up through that and was a part of the North Hall team…I played all the sports when I was a kid; baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, little league; I liked them but I never really clicked with any of them until I started paddling. I really fell in love with it and found out I was naturally good at it and stuck with it, kept rolling from there and here I am.

Q: What do you think is the best thing about Hall County?

A: “Obviously, I love having Lake Lanier right there to train on. It’s really the best training facility that I’ve ever been to and I’ve been all over Europe, North America, Mexico, Canada and I’ve been to so many different racing courses but I still say Lake Lanier is the best place to paddle.”

Q: Where do you see yourself in five, 10 years?

A: “After 2016 my plan is to go back to grad school. I graduated from the University of North Georgia with a Physics degree in 2014. So, my plan after 2016 is to go to grad school, I’m not sure where, either Florida Tech or Texas A&M for a graduate degree in Ocean Engineering and that will take me five or six years.

“In 10 years, I hope to be getting a good start in my career, wherever that is. It’s a pretty broad field and I’m not sure where I’d want to specialize, it’s really anything to do with engineering; building bridges, shoreline management, marine vessels under water and surface level. It works with major rivers and the Great Lakes, as well. There are so many different avenues and I’ll probably decide early on in my studies.”

To read more about Morgan House, director of the Lake Lanier Olympic Venue, click here.