You can qualify as an Elite under USAT rules-
http://www.usatriathlon.com/Membership/EliteQualification.aspx

Elite's aren't necessarily pros in the strictest sense of the word. You dont need or deserve sponsorship just because you are elite. Those come from a) knowing someone b) winning a lot and getting noticed c) working hard to get noticed. Its all about relationships. Dont act like an ass at races, be friendly and outgoing. Introduce yourswelf to everyone who represents a shop, product, or company.

There are very few true pros who make a living off the sport. Wages and such are very hard to come by. Count yourself lucky if you got a bike. A Pro Deal (usually wholesale cost) is more likely.

It is better to be a fast amateur unless you are a top pro. You will get more attention and better sponsorship that way.

to get sponsorships it's about selling yourself to people(in a legal way ;) ) you have to show them how givign you $ will benefit them. to be a pro you ahve to meet USAt guidelines -see above but that is a hard life see http://www.michellelindsay.com/ this girl travelled the world racing ITU races and is a difficult way to live

good article on getting sponsors:
http://216.17.32.141/art.asp?1=7&2=56&3=21&pg=1

This should piss a lot of fast people off--I'm lucky if I finish in the top 1/3 and I race for free pretty much. You'd think that maybe I was in the top 10, but I ended up 600th or so at IM Louisville and I was ranked around 1300/3856 in USAT for my age last year. So how do I race for free?

I spent a lot of time looking for sponsors with another kind of racing (auto), where I was consistently in first place. The outrage was that it was still costing me thousands of dollars per day of racing and about the best I could get was discounts off of parts if I ran stickers. It's not much different in Triathlon: basically you're on your own or will have to come up with creative ways to cover costs.

How'd I do it? I built my business case and presented it to the company I work for. Sponsorship isn't necessarily about being fast--it's more about what you can do to impact the bottom line of the company you're promoting. I built a good proposal and pitched it to my company's owners and now I can expense hotels, race entry fees, expensed my bike and even nutrition for running my company's logo on my wheel and helmet. I didn't build my business case based on the fact that people at triathlons will see the company logo and then call us and buy software, though (though this is how it worked for auto racing). I built my business case based on the fact that prospective business partners and customers will be more interested in doing business with me based on my activities in the sport. In the world of Triathlon nobody pays attention to a 600th place finisher so I knew I'd never be able to get, say, Cervelo to give me a bike. However, in the world of business where people think a 20 min. jog on a treadmill is impossible, anyone who even finishes an Ironman is a god. I have clients who schedule meetings with me just to get updates on how my training is going....and the business we get out of that pays for things like bicycles and tires and hotels.

Point is--you can try to go after all the usual suspects: Felt, Cervelo, QR, Cliff Bars, etc. etc., but you'll be competing with everyone and their sister. Instead, hit up a local Chiropractor or Podiatrist or running store--or call Whole Foods or Brocade or Apple or a budding nutritional supplement company. Marketing budgets vary widely and all you need to do is hit up the right marketing person at the right time who happens to have budget available and can't figure out a creative way to spend it. In exchange for a couple thousand dollars (nothing in the corp. world) you could agree to run a company logo/jersey, send pictures of your race finishes and, as a bonus, come in and give a presentation to the company employees on weight loss, exercise, motivation, etc. Worst anyone can say is no....

My old, ex-employer, used to sponsor our mountain bike team. What's civil engineering got to do with bike racing? Nada, except they were encouraging us to get out of the office and be active and physically fit. They paid for race entries for our team of 5 and travel expenses, as long as we showed up to work, and put a sticker on our bikes.

Michael Lovato recently blogged about some sponsorship thoughts. Definitely worth a read if you are interested in that: http://michaellovato.blogspot.com/2008/03/sponorship-right-or-privelege....