Donations

Are you not a company or business that would like to sponsor us? No worries, we still accept donations!

The Purdue Triathlon Club does what it can to support its members financially. In between studying and training, a considerable amount of our time and energy is spent organizing and running two races per year. The revenue from these races is used to offset the financial burden our members cope with.

In addition to tuition, room & board, books, etc... our members supply their own equipment (including bikes), pay for clothing, travel expenses, race expenses, etc. The Triathlon Club makes an effort to offset these costs with sponsorship deals and subsidized travel/race fees, however our resources aren't always enough.

Your financial donation will go a long way in supporting our student athletes, and will help them achieve their goals. To make an online donation to Purdue Triathlon Club, please fill out the form below.

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The History of the Team

The club was originally formed in 1976 by Dave Jones (AKA Crazy Dave - named after professional triathlete great Dave Scott). Jones passed away before his time of a brain tumor. However, Chris Marks picked up where Jones left off and was the original head coach, faculty/staff advisor, and bike tech guru. he helped gather members and form the basis of the organization. The club had strong connections with the Purdue Cycling and the Purdue Running clubs. Purdue Triathlon become completely independent of the other two clubs, however, in 1989, the same day that triathlon legends Mark Allen beat Dave Scott in the Hawaii Ironman Champtionships (legend has it that this was also the date of a Syllabus Week Tuesday). This move towards independence made Purdue Triathlon the first collegiate triathlon team of any Big 10 land-grant school east of the Mississippi River.

In 2000 Purdue University President, Dr. Martin C Jischke, started the drug/alcohol free grants for Grand Prix week. Adam Rudin, the club president at the time, along with Chris Marks issued a proposal for the Grand Prix Duathlon and the club was awarded a $500 grant. Thus the birth of the club organizing local annual races. The duathlon has been an annual occurance ever since. At this time the University of Iowa was the only other midwest club with a triathlon team. A strong connection between Iowa and Purdue grew to the point that the University of Wisconson and Michigan State University wanted to form a Big 10 triathlon series.

Texx (Matt) Eckerle became president and most of the club officers continued and an election process and bylaws were finalized. Graduate student Tony Clifton brought the club to new levels through lab testing (blood and urine analysis) in the off-season. Eckerle became instramental in the Collegiate Triathlon Association ruling on grad-student requirements for national championships scoring, an influential bylaw that stands to this day.

During Texx’s 2nd term as president, the club drifted from the direction of the previous officers and there was a difference of opinion - the previous group being results oriented, while the new group became oriented towards inclusion, growing the sport, and having fun. At this time, original coach Chris Marks was asked to step down as coach and advisor. Paul “Phlash” Harris, who was a gold level USAT certified coach, filled the vacant coach position. Mike Moya took over as advisor.

Afterward many generations of Presidents occured and each on e of them made the team grow and become more popular in the university. Now Purdue Triathlon Continues to stride onward into it's 28th year of being a club and is soon to be recognized at Purdue as an NCAA sport!