How This Pro Is Working to Diversify the Bike Community
At the start of National Triathlon Week, the last week of June this year, USA Triathlon created an NCAA tournament-style bracket of the top 40 moments In U.S. triathlon history.
The winning moment? When Max Fennell became the first Black professional triathlete.
Fennell’s moment went through six rounds of matchups which earned thousands of votes from the public. In the final round, Fennell, 32, went up against Gwen Jorgensen winning the Olympic gold medal in 2016, and he received 70 percent of the vote in the championship to take the win.
The tournament was mainly a way to celebrate all the great moments in triathlon during a time when athletes are eager to compete, but it still meant a great deal to Fennell, and to the triathlon community, in a sport that largely lacks any diversity at all. It’s also a long way from where he got his start in the sport almost 10 years ago.
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As a child, Fennell was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and he used competitive sports as a way to train his mind to focus; in sports, Fennell could always set clear goals to improve. After two years of playing college soccer, he decided to pursue a dream of going pro. But in 2011, just two weeks before tryouts for a semi-professional team, Fennell suffered a career-ending injury to his medial collateral ligament (MCL) in a pickup game.
The injury was a huge setback for Fennell, but a silver lining? He never would have gotten into triathlons otherwise. While working at a local coffee shop in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Fennell met Brian Sullivan, the man who would become his triathlon mentor. Sullivan suggested he compete in a local triathlon, now TriRock Philadelphia, and lent him an old triathlon bike made by Elite Bicycles. Under Sullivan’s guidance, Fennell placed seventh in the race. Sullivan then helped coach Fennell through the rest of his first season where he made the podium in four of his six races, including an age group win.
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Fennell qualified for his pro card late in his fourth season in 2014, becoming the very first Black professional triathlete. From that moment on, Fennell made a very conscious decision to make representation one of his top priorities. Today, Fennell lives and trains in Menlo Park, California, and is constantly trying to broaden the cycling and triathlon community to include different kinds of people.
Just being seen and recognized goes a long way to encourage other Black athletes, but the bike and endurance sport industry can do a lot more. According to Fennell, it’s not tough to appeal to a broader audience—especially when it comes to young people. He said there’s room to target different demographics to get lots of kids excited about bikes.
“It would be amazing if USA Triathlon or USA Cycling took a bunch of brown kids to the track or the training center and shared it all on social media. Capture that authentic experience of the first time seeing a velodrome or the first time meeting cycling coaches,” he said.
Every part of the cycling world—and the world of all endurance sports—should be working as hard as possible to diversify internally, diversify their audience, and in turn, to grow the whole reality of cycling and sport, according to Fennell.
He’s leading by example in all aspects of his life. Beyond athletic achievements, he founded his own coffee company, Fenn Coffee, in 2018. Fennell had always been interested in coffee culture, but it wasn’t until he was out on his long training rides, fueling with energy drinks and having a hard time processing the artificial additives, that he decided to create his own version of an energy supplement. Fenn Coffee is a small batch artisan roasting company, but they specialize in their four-ounce cold brew double espresso shots that Fennell designed specifically for long bike rides and races.
He’s also adding community involvement to his docket in the form of political action. Not long ago, Fennell tried putting together a city-funded program in Menlo Park to introduce the children of working-class families to endurance sports.
“I wanted the city to help create a budget and allow us to offer free swim lessons, track workouts, and an introduction to cycling,” Fennell said. “The initiative didn’t rally much support from City Council—they couldn’t see the benefits of teaching young kids how to swim and ride a bike,” he said.
Instead of feeling defeated though, Fennell got even more energized, and he decided he had to try to do more. Fennell had a conversation with his brother, who has helped run political campaigns, and they put together some goals and a platform.
“My brother said, ‘As long as you’re okay with losing, but losing for something that you really believe in, it will be worth it,’” he said.
So at the beginning of July, Fennell officially announced his run for City Council for Menlo Park’s District 3.
“Roughly 50 percent of the district is made up of blue-collar workers and renters, and my platform is really aimed at lowering the very high cost of living,” he said.
If Fennell wins the City Council position, he’d serve a four-year term—which means giving up some of his peak racing years. But Fennell’s okay with it; for him, it comes back to representation.
“I had to ask myself: Can I stomach someone else’s greed making my life and the lives of others unstable?
“I don’t see representation in leadership at the local, state, or national level, and I think part of it is that people like me are busy chasing our dreams and not realizing that part of our calling is stepping up and serving the community,” he said.
No matter what Fennell is working on, representation will continue to be at the forefront of his vision. He’s working on his own foundation to support young minority athletes get started on their endurance sport careers.
But more than anything, Fennell wants his legacy to be getting more Black athletes to realize their potential in endurance sports, and in anything they want to pursue.
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