In 2011, USA Triathlon began a project looking for stories on the history of people who had an influence in the development of triathlon in the late 1990's and early 2000's.  The following is the story of Ted Kennedy, President and Founder of CEO Challenges, and former VP of Marketing for Ironman North America.

Ted Kennedy's background includes 20 years with packaged goods companies in Canada, including 13 years with Quaker Oats.   He was promoted through various sales and marketing roles, and as a result, lived on both coasts in Canada.  As a matter of fact, he and his wife have a daughter that was born in Toronto, a daughter that was born in Vancouver, and a son that was born in Halifax!

While working for Quaker, Ted raced on the Gatorade Triathlon Team.   Gatorade was a sponsor of the Subaru Triathlon Series in Ontario, and he became quite friendly with the Series' owner Graham Fraser.

Graham, Ted, and about 10 other Toronto area triathletes would travel for one week each Spring to Pinehurst, NC to bike, run, swim, and golf.   It was on these trips that Graham and Ted would talk about their businesses, and the challenges in sales and marketing.

In 1997 Graham purchased Ironman Canada from a Toronto businessman who basically bought the race to keep it out of bankruptcy.  Graham was able to turn the business around from losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, to the point where it was making tens of thousands in profit.

When Graham bought Ironman Canada he built a clause into his contract with the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) that stated he had the rights to all new Ironman races in the USA and Canada.   The President of WTC at the time, David Yates, told Graham, "go ahead and keep that clause, because the only Ironman in the USA ever will be the Hawaii Ironman World Championship."

In 1998, Ted became the Vice President of Best Foods Canada, and found out first-hand the challenges of juggling a high pressure career with family time and triathlon training.   And, after 20 years of corporate life, he really became envious of people like Graham who was able to combine his passion with his work.   Ted mentioned to him more than a few times how lucky he was, and how he would love to have a career that incorporated his passion.

Well, it wasn't long before he was put to the test to see if he really had what it took to make the jump.

Late in 1998 the existing President of WTC left, and Dr. Gills' head of real estate development, Lew Freidland, was asked to take over Ironman (Dr. Gills owned WTC).   Lew was an incredible ‘breath of fresh air' for Ironman, and very forward thinking about how to solidify and expand the brand.

One of his first objectives was to launch an Ironman race in the USA.   However, it was brought up that Graham, through his Ironman Canada contract, owned the rights to all new races in the USA.   So Lew phoned Graham and told him to find a location in the north east region of the country.

Graham loaded up the family and started a journey that was planned to take him to upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and into the Boston area to find a location for the Ironman.   However, he was so struck with his first stop on the tour, Lake Placid, that he signed a deal with the town on the spot, and never visited any of the other locations.

Isuzu Ironman USA Lake Placid was launched in the Spring of 1999, with a race date in mid-August.   Much to everyone's surprise, as soon as the race website went live entries began pouring in!   

It was going to be an obvious success, so Lew told Graham to now find a race in the south east region of the USA.   Graham assumed Lew meant a race for 2000, but Lew told him, no not 2000 - this Fall!

Through his Subaru Triathlon Series, Graham had two extremely competent operations people, Lyle Harris and Chris Gdanski, who took on the responsibility of running the Ontario series, Ironman Canada and these two new races.   However, Graham realized he needed someone to help run the business side of things.

Which leads us back to Ted.   One day he got a call from Graham that basically said, "put your money where your mouth is", and they began talking about the business of Ironman.

After weeks of discussion, Ted decided to leave his high paying job with stock options, benefits, and car and join Ironman North America as VP of Sales & Marketing with no salary, no ownership, and no benefits (but a new Subaru every six months...).

Ted's job would be to sell sponsorship to the three North American Ironman races, and earn anywhere from 5 - 20% commission, depending if they were simply renewals of current deals, or sponsorship money from new companies.

Virtually any entrepreneur can relate to the moment when you realize you have given up incredible security for no security.   A terrifying time with a mortgage to pay, and three kids to feed.

However, due to some contacts Ted had from business in Canada, some new ones found in the US, a bit of luck, and selling skills honed over 20 years in business, he quickly brought forward deals with Kellogg's Smart Start cereal, Janus Mutual Funds, and HSBC Bank.   They were going to make it after all!

Ironman Lake Placid was a huge success (even though the team was honestly terrified that no one would show up to watch on race day!), and Ironman Florida was selling well, so Lew got the crew to find a race in California, a hot-bed for triathlon.

Ironman California was launched in 2000 on US Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (it was moved off the Base and reduced to a half Ironman after 9/11), and the expansion continued to Ironman Utah (since cancelled after freak storms wiped out the swim two years in a row), Ironman Wisconsin, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Ironman Arizona and a half Ironman at Disney World in Florida.   To say that Ironman in the USA was an enormous success would be a huge understatement.

As mentioned, Ted's job with Ironman North America was to introduce new companies to the sport of triathlon, and ultimately, sponsorship of Ironman races.    A survey of athletes registered for Ironman Lake Placid revealed that almost 10% of the entrants listed their jobs as President or CEO.   Ted thought that a great way to get to know these people would be to organize a ‘race within the race' for CEOs, and in 2001 the CEO Ironman Challenge program was launched.

The CEO Ironman Challenge in 2001 attracted 15 CEOs, and was a huge success.   ESPN covered the CEO Challenge as part of their race coverage, and the first event was won by Cid Cardoso of Inside Out Sports (which, to be honest, didn't really impress the TV Producers - they wanted one of the really high profile CEOs like Mark Holowesko of Templeton Funds to win).

The CEO Ironman Challenge grew every year, and was eventually capped at 25 entrants to retain intimacy.   In 2003 Ted worked out a deal with WTC where the top finishers from the CEO Challenge would earn a slot to the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, and the winner of the CEO Challenge in Hawaii earned the title of World's Fittest CEO (which he quickly trademarked).

Things could not have gone better in the early years - Ted and his family relocated to Lake Placid to join the rest of the Ironman NA crew, and they had a blast putting on world class events while enjoying a fantastic lifestyle, and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.  Ted continued to train and compete in triathlons (his first triathlon was in 1986), and finished Ironman Canada in 2001 in 10:16.

However, with almost 20 flights a year for the team, travel in and out of Lake Placid was getting incredibly difficult and time consuming.   Therefore, in 2003 the office was moved to Claremont, Florida to take advantage of the good weather and the Orlando airport.

However, Graham and his family did not like Florida, so the team began the process of finding a new location for the Ironman NA office.   Eventually, they decided on Boulder, CO due to the incredible triathlon lifestyle, the many world champions and Olympicans that call the area home, and proximity to the Denver airport.

Unfortunately, not all good times can last forever.   Along the way the team lost Lyle Harris and Chris Gdanski, both pillars of the company's race operations.  

On the business side, Ted was making fantastic headway in discussions with Ford for potential title sponsorship of all Ironman USA events.  He had been to Detroit a number of times to meet the Ford team, had given their marketing manager a personal tour of Ironman Lake Placid (including a trip down Main Street where 80% of the vehicles were SUV's!), and race-day helicopter tour of the Hawaii Ironman World Championship.

Graham and Ted were in Detroit to finalize the deal with Ford when they received a call from Ben Fertic informing them that he had taken over as President of WTC from Lew Freidland, and that they were not to sign any contract without his involvement.

Over the next few weeks Ben became involved in the discussions, and persuaded Ford to include WTC in the deal, including title of the World Championship.   The big day arrived, and Ted, Graham, and Ben travelled to Detroit to sign the deal with Ford in late 2004.   Ironman was finally in the big leagues, with a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with a huge global company!    This is the dream Graham and Ted had talked about for years. 

But dreams don't always come true. Shortly after the deal was signed with Ford, Ted was ‘let go' from Ironman North America.

Meanwhile, the CEO Ironman Challenge program continued to capture the imagination of CEOs and the media worldwide.   Ted was inundated with calls from reporters wanting to know more about these crazy people who were able to combine running a company with travel, family, social commitments, and training up to 20 hours a week for an Ironman.  He was asked what drives these people, how does the training affect their job, and who are the fittest CEOs.

The program was going so well that Ted was contemplating expanding it beyond just Lake Placid, but didn't want to take on the extra responsibility with his job of finding new sponsors for Ironman North America.

As they say, when one door closes, often another door opens.   So Ted left Ironman NA and, in May 2005 launched CEO Challenge LLC with the plan to take the CEO Challenge concept to many other sports worldwide.

Ted negotiated a few more "Kona" slots from WTC, and expanded the CEO Challenge to Ironman races around the world, including Austria, France, Korea, and the Singapore Half Ironman.   The ‘best of the best' from each of these races met in Hawaii for the Ford Ironman World Championship each year, and to race for the title of World's Fittest CEO®.

They also expanded the concept to other sports, including golf at The Masters, driving at a Rolex Grand Am Series event, fly fishing, tennis, and running at the Chicago Marathon.

However, the CEO Ironman Challenge was what the company was known for, and responsible for the bulk of revenue and profits for the company.

The original contract for Hawaii Ironman slots with WTC expired after five years in 2007.  Ted was able to obtain a year extension for 2007, and one additional year for 2008.   However, he noticed that WTC seemed to be paying more attention than usual to the program.

The reason why became obvious when Ted met with Ben Fertic in June, 2008.   Ben told him that their contract with WTC would not be renewed due to ‘not enough room for your CEOs on the pier in Hawaii'.

However, even without ‘Kona' slots, the CEO Challenge program at Ironman Arizona was a huge success, with almost 20 CEOs taking part, and a photographer and reporter on site for a front page story for Fortune Small Business magazine.   Ted figured that the business would be OK since CEOs still signed up for Ironman Arizona despite no Hawaii Ironman slots.

That may have been true, except for two outside forces.   One, as we all know, businesses suffered terribly during the market crash and bailouts of Wall Street firms.   And, due to comments about companies frivolously wasting money by President Obama and others, CEOs ‘went into hiding', and did not want to be acknowledged or recognized doing anything other than working.

Secondly, WTC launched their own version of the CEO Challenge and called it the XC Challenge, or Executive Challenge.   The program was identical to the CEO Challenge, except it focused on all executives, not just those in the C-Level suite.  

Needless to say, 2009 & 2010 were tough years for CEO Challenges, but due to a long-term title sponsorship deal with Chartis Insurance the company survived the tough economic times.

Now, on to the future.   CEO Challenges still hosts one Ironman event each year with Ironman Canada, which is still owned by Graham Fraser.   And the company has found that there are many CEOs that love to ride bikes and are looking for the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals, and test themselves against fellow CEOs.  As a result, they host a very successful annual cycling event with George Hincapie in his hometown of Greenville, SC, plus CEO Challenges at the popular Leadville Trail 100 MTB and RCB GranFondo Whistler races. 

Plans for 2012 include two new ambitious projects with incredible potential - the first ever CEO Endurance World Championship in September (including TV coverage), and a team in the Race Across America! 

The secret to a successful CEO Challenge event continues to be offering ‘something that money cannot buy'.   If the CEOs can buy it, they will - they certainly have the means.

In the past this meant the chance for a CEO to get to the Hawaii Ironman, and now it means the chance to hang out and become pals with George Hincapie, race on a team of 8 across the USA, recieve a coveted invitation to the Endurance World Championship, or receive an entry, with VIP privileges, into sold out races like the XTERRA World Championship or Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

It can also mean the chance to play on a team of CEOs in various sports.   Therefore, the company is working on a potential CEO Hockey Challenge event, and may even expand into baseball and basketball.

Ted continues to love his life, and is literally 'living the dream'.   He works hard to find new events that might appeal to CEOs, to ensure that sponsors are delighted with their partnership, and he gets to travel to very cool places to allow CEOs the opportunity to compete against CEOs in spectacular venues worldwide.

WTC was purchased by Providence Equity Group form the Gills family in 2008, and under Ben's guidance has been buying triathlon races all over the world, and is launching a new 5150 Olympic distance race series.   Andrew Messick, formerly of AEG, was recently named the new CEO of WTC, with Ben Fertic as President.

Graham Fraser sold his USA Ironman races to WTC in 2009, and has launched Centurion Cycling events.