Canadian marathon champion Trevor Hofbauer runs XC race in socks

Last weekend at the U Sports Canada West conference championships in Abbotsford, B.C., things didn’t go to plan for Canadian marathon champion Trevor Hofbauer, who raced the entirety of the 8K cross-country race in socks.

Given his recent resume, Hofbauer was the favourite to win the championship but made a rash decision to ditch his cross-country spikes after a malfunction on the opening lap. Instead of stopping and putting his shoes back on, he ran the final seven kilometres in his socks.

MXC – Trevor Hofbauer

Without shoes on, he ran to a 6th place finish leading his squad to a best-ever 5th place result at the CW Championship.

WXC – Joanna Brown

Joanna Brown secured her second CW medal with a silver at the CW Championship helping her team also secure silver. pic.twitter.com/IVXoXEWCfx

— UBCO Heat ? (@UBCOHeat) November 1, 2022

The 30-year-old held his own in the lead pack of university runners for a few kilometres but ended up falling back to finish sixth in 24:12. His result still helped his team, the UBC Okanagan Heat, post their best-ever fifth-place finish in the Canada West conference.

Tyler Dozzi of the UBC Thunderbirds won the race in 23:55. 

“The race was a bit of a challenge without having shoes on,” said Hofbauer in a post-race report. “The socks didn’t hold the heel down in my spikes very well, and my feet slid out within the first kilometre.”

Hofbauer said the first thing that came to his mind was to race without shoes, and having run a marathon only two weeks prior—his legs didn’t agree with the decision. Even though the 2020 Olympian and three-time Canadian marathon champion qualified for the 2022 U Sports Championships in Halifax on Nov. 12, it is doubtful he will race.

Canada’s second-fastest marathoner of all-time made light of the sock situation, stating it was a “human error” on his sock choice.