When watching Eric Limkemann compete in triathlons, it’s easy to see why he is such a… When watching Eric Limkemann compete in triathlons, it’s easy to see why he is such a valuable part of the Pitt swimming and diving team.

It might not be as easy, however, to tell that he’s a coach.

The assistant coach for Pitt, under head coach Chuck Knoles, competed in and won the Pittsburgh Triathlon earlier this month.

“This was my first time winning the Pittsburgh Triathlon and it felt good to win in front of the hometown crowd,” Limkemann said.

Despite starting with the last wave of competitors, Limkemann pushed past the majority of the field to win with a final time of 1:56.47. The victory marks the fourth triathlon the assistant coach has won in his career.

Limkemann started the events with a 1.5-kilometer swim in the Allegheny River. He quickly began to gain on the leaders by earning the best time in the swim event at 18:22.

He then continued his push with a 40k bike ride that consisted of two laps along the HOV lane on I-279.

“It was a painful ride, but I continued to pass people from earlier waves and pad my lead from the swim,” Limkemann said. It wasn’t nearly as painful a ride as it was in last year’s triathlon, where Limkemann suffered a crash on the bike trail.

He finished the biking event without harm this year and a time of 59:26, placing him four minutes behind the leaders, meaning he had made up six of the ten minutes of his late start.

With the possibility of victory well in hand, Limkemann started the last event, a 10k run along the North Shore’s trails, with a determination to win.

“I knew at that point that I was going to win, so I really pushed the pace to turn in a good time,” Limkemann said.

He turned in a great time, finishing the 10k run in just under 37 minutes — ten minutes faster than his time last year — to win with a healthy seven-minute margin of victory.

Although he originally hails from New Haven, Ind., Limkemann considers Pittsburgh like home. He and his wife currently live in Oakland.

“It was great to race at home, in front of and against familiar faces,” Limkemann said.

A 2004 graduate of Pitt, Limkemann once swam for the team he now helps to coach. During his four-year career with the Panthers, Limkemann was a nine-time Big East champion, also winning the 1650-meter freestyle event all four years. He is only one of two Panthers to ever accomplish such a feat.

Although his main profession is now that of a coach, Limkemann hasn’t stopped competing. As a matter of fact, Limkemann placed third in the 20-24-year-old age bracket of the 2005 JAL Honolulu ITU Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii this past fall.