Pro triathlete Tim O'Donnell lands a sponsor - Fuji Bikes

Fuji bicycles announced its newest sponsoredmultiple school records, earning repeated district
athlete, 6-time Armed Forces Champion Timothychampionships and All-State honors.
O'Donnell. Most recently Tim conquered all fellowFunny enough, O'Donnell never foresaw becoming
competitors at the Ironman 70.3 St. Croix on Maya triathlete as anything up his alley. Tim credits his
3rd.older brother as the reason he is involved with
After the race 28 year-old O'Donnell described histriathlons in the first place. "The rest of our family
gameplan for this reknowned tough course. “Ithought it was pretty hilarious when I started
had heard how tough the run can be here, anddoing triathlons. As a kid I had a very bad track
how it is so easy to blow up on that second lap.record on the bike. In fact I ran into the garage, a
Rather than go for it on the bike, I just tried toparked car and two brick mailboxes growing up."
stay in the mix, while hoping to have some extraIn 2003, O'Donnell graduated from the Naval
strength on the run.” Cliff English, Tim's coach,Academy with distinction. He earned a spot in the
had recently placed him on a new runningImmediate Graduate Education program while in
program which apparently did the trick as Timschool and soon headed to the University of
came out of transition 2 (T2) in fifth place andCalifornia at Berkeley for a Masters in Ocean
somehow found the strength at the remainingEngineering. O'Donnell managed to grab six Armed
third mile to pull ahead and claim victory. Forces Triathlon Championship titles as well as the
Karen Bliss, Fuji's Director of Marketing, said "heUnder-23 U.S. National Triathlon Championship. In
impressed me at the 2007 Eilat World Cup whereregards to bragging rights within the armed
he was the second American to finish behind ourforces, O'Donnell claimed first place at the 2007
other Fuji-sponsored triathlete, Matt Reed. NowArmed Forces Triathlon Championships.
that I know more about him and his incredibleIn 2007, O'Donnell also earned spots on the U.S.
accomplishments both on and off the bike, I'mNational and World Championship Teams and in
convinced Tim's the guy to watch in 2009 and2008 placed 6th at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
beyond."Though he missed the team, O'Donnell soon
Tim began scratching off accomplishments asdecided to devote his efforts full-time in triathlon.
early as high school where he was nominatedNext up for this all-star triathlete is the Rev 3 Half
captain of the varsity swim team and had setIronman on June 7th in Conneticut.