In June of 2014, Timothy Donovan embarked upon his first triathlon, the Siesta Beach Triathlon.  He did so at the urging of Karen Harbaugh as he wanted to do a “short” triathlon before attempting Ironman Augusta 70.3 that same year.  Karen had convinced him that Augusta was doable as “The swim is downstream in a river,” and “A potato chip bag floated down the river and made the cutoff time.”   So Tim took on the Olympic distance race as his first ever race and it was an “utter disaster.”  His swim time nearly matched his 10K run time and he nearly left T1 without his helmet.  He notes his combined transition time was approximately 13 minutes.  But he would not be dissuaded.  He would race Augusta that September in 5:25:50 and he was hooked.

In 2015, Tim set his sights on a bigger distance race and so he, Karen, and Jeff Godman signed up for 2015 Ironman Louisville.  This is the time that Tim also joined G3 as he was hoping it was a good opportunity to meet like-minded athletes.  At the first meeting he attended, he met John Bongiovanni, who had separately signed up for the same Ironman.  Tim would go on to finish that race in 13:01:13.  Looking back, Tim believes that the summer of training and racing together with old friends and new were some of the best experiences he has had in triathlon.            

Tim considers his best ever race result the 2014 Five Points of Life Half Marathon in which he clocked a 1:33:06.  He considers his greatest accomplishment in triathlon completing the 2016 Ironman Chattanooga.  A stifling heat wave overtook the southern US and the 19% DNF rate was excessive.  The high temperature was 97 degrees with a heat index of 102.  He was able to complete the course (144.6) in 13:14:33, a tremendous time considering the average finish time was 13:59:00 of those who could complete the course.  He felt the race was a celebration of all the training he had done with numerous other G3 members who all raced that day too.  Tim believes that the training for an Ironman in and of itself is a true accomplishment.

While Tim has no races he would like to forget, he does have one race that stands out that he would love to have a “do-over,” Ironman Puerto Rico 70.3.  After his best ever non river swim, he began having GI issues 20 miles into the bike and vomited 3 miles into the run and ended up walking the majority of the half marathon.

Tim has a background in track and cross country, which he ran in high school.  He has been a G3 board member since 2016, is 41 years old, and works as a Project Manager for Complete Structural Consulting, a G3 sponsor.  Tim’s goals in the sport are to promote it to get more people off the sidelines and involved as he has seen first hand all of the benefits of the sport, not only from a physical health perspective, but also from all of the great friends and memories that are made through the race preparation.