Major Gift to the USA Triathlon Foundation to Support Project Podium, Youth and Junior Athletes
by Kennedy Terry
USA Triathlon Foundation donor Cyle Sage, from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, started swimming in high school and continued through college, when a college roommate convinced him to try a triathlon. He got a bike, finished top 10 in the “Big Chill” triathlon in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1988 and was hooked.
He’s been a triathlete ever since, with highlights that include a 1989 U.S. Amateur Championship Title in Boca Raton, Florida, qualifying for Kona 5 times, representing the US in the 1997 Pan American Games and the US Navy in the World Military Championships (1998 -2000) and a member of the TIMEX professional team. Cyle retired from professional racing in 2003. Cyle’s passion for triathlon landed him as a founding member of USAT’s National Coaching Commission in 1996 and becoming USAT’s first Athlete Development Director. Sage was the Junior National Team Coach starting in 1994 and instrumental in the foundations of various Youth and High School Triathlon participation and training programs as well as the early formation of USA Triathlon’s Collegiate Recruitment Program, which identifies and develops NCAA runners and swimmers into triathletes. The US Olympic Committee recognized Cyle twice (1998-1999) as the “Developmental Coach of the Year”.
Cyle’s appreciation and passion about the opportunities the sport provided him, has opened a pathway to “pay it forward“ so to speak, through the Project Podium he was introduced to at the CLASH Miami event this Spring.
The Foundation’s three pillars - Encouragement of youth participation, Inspiring pathways for access and inclusion, and Igniting the Olympic and Paralympic Dream have resonated throughout Cyle’s entire coaching and racing career and can continue with his major gift to the Foundation to support current and future Project Podium athletes.
Learn more about Sage’s connection to triathlon and his commitment to the USA Triathlon Foundation below.
How has triathlon helped shape other areas of your life?
“This sport offers a unique challenge in mastering your best in three of the biggest mass participation activities on the planet. Through that experience you find your ‘athletic strengths and weaknesses’ both depend on each other to make us a better person. Better for us and better to help others. We all have 24 hours a day - 8 to sleep, 8 to work and 8 to play. Triathlon training put a day into a whole new perspective for me.”
What do you think is important for other athletes and potential supporters to know about the USA Triathlon Foundation?
“That it exists and through the financial support the Foundation provides, Dreams can come true.”
Why did you choose to support the USA Triathlon Foundation? What parts of the mission are you passionate about and why?There are those future athletes out there that will dream of being on the starting line and accomplishing something in their lives that they will cherish forever, whether it was to compete or complete and that is what the USA Triathlon Foundation supports, the opportunity to do that and I wanted to be a part of that vision and mission and process.”
About USA Triathlon Foundation
The USA Triathlon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and the charitable arm of USA Triathlon. With its mission to transform lives through sport by providing opportunities to swim, bike and run, the Foundation serves to generate a greater impact on the multisport community through charitable giveback and grants that advance the Foundation’s three pillars: (1) Encourage youth participation; (2) Inspire pathways to access and inclusion; and (3) Ignite Olympic/Paralympic dreams. Since the Foundation was established in 2014, it has provided millions of dollars in grants to organizations and individuals in pursuit of its mission and pillars to create a healthier United States through triathlon.
Interested in learning more about the impact the USA Triathlon Foundation makes? Visit the USA Triathlon Foundation’s website here.