USA Triathlon and Elk Grove Village have announced that 4 Star Endurance has been named as the first-ever recipient of the Elk Grove Village-USA Triathlon Entrepreneur/Business Plan of the Year Award.
In November 2020, USA Triathlon announced a ‘first-of-its-kind partnership with Elk Grove Village’, as the Illinois municipality was named the Exclusive Entrepreneur Community and Exclusive Making Dreams Come True Partner of USA Triathlon through September 2021.
The inaugural award is one component of USA Triathlon and Elk Grove Village’s unique partnership. The partnership is designed to showcase Elk Grove Village’s ‘Makers Wanted’ brand. It also aims to leverage the popularity of triathlon to both increase the visibility of the municipality on a national scale and attract world-class manufacturers and businesses.
Elk Grove Village is a business-friendly community, laying claim to the US nation’s largest contiguous industrial park — a six-square mile expanse housing more than 5,600 businesses that employ 56,000 people, and over 400 manufacturers specializing in plastic, metal, food, tech and more.
Its ‘Makers Wanted’ tagline is a call-to-action for the community and the thousands of businesses based there.
To be considered for the Elk Grove Village-USA Triathlon Entrepreneur/Business Plan of the Year Award, USA Triathlon Annual Members and existing business leaders in Elk Grove Village were invited to submit an innovative idea for a new or existing business.
After an initial review process, five finalists were selected to pitch their ideas on a live Zoom call to a panel of multisport industry executives. This included:
- Rocky Harris, USA Triathlon CEO;
- Wally Hayward, CEO of W Partners and member of USA Triathlon’s Marketing Committee;
- Josh Grodzin, Director of Business Development and Marketing at Elk Grove Village;
- Ben Kanute, 2016 US Olympian and professional triathlete;
- Keri Serota, Co-Founder and Head Coach of Dare2Tri Paratriathlon Club and member of the USA Triathlon Board of Directors; and
- Dan Migala, Co-Founder of 4FRONT.
Doron Tamari, Senior Manager at 4FRONT, emceed the event.
The winning submission was 4 Star Endurance, a Chicago-based endurance coaching business that also manages club and charity teams. In a pitch led by USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach Chris Navin, 4 Star Endurance presented an idea to ‘create an urban racing experience enhanced by innovative technology and driven by eSports marketing.’
‘The pitch focused on increasing accessibility for urban populations and diverse communities, with the potential to revolutionize the indoor triathlon landscape and build a pipeline to lifelong multisport participation.’
“We’re a community that supports the ambitions of the American Dream,” said Craig Johnson, Mayor of Elk Grove Village.
“Whether that’s the world-class athletes from USA Triathlon grinding through an Olympic-distance race or the passionate entrepreneurs from the 5,600 businesses in Elk Grove Village who make their American Dream a reality in our six square mile Business Park. Elk Grove Village couldn’t be prouder to extend our support to 4 Star Endurance on their entrepreneurial journey.”
Rocky Harris, USA Triathlon CEO, said “We were really impressed with 4 Star Endurance’s proposal to transform indoor triathlons and reach new audiences in the process.
“Their plan has the potential for large-scale implementation across the country, and if successful, would have a measurable impact on diversity, equity, inclusion and access in our sport.
“Were it not for our partnership with Elk Grove Village, we may never have been exposed to this innovative team — and now we have the opportunity to support them as they bring their plan to life.”
4 Star Endurance was awarded with the opportunity to attend an innovation session with 4FRONT, a Chicago-based consulting firm; a three-hour business strategy and advising session with a professional business coach from Elk Grove Village’s business accelerator program; and a 60-second company video produced by Banner, a Chicago-based digital content studio specializing in video production.
The business also received a commemorative trophy, a complimentary USA Triathlon Annual Membership, a US$250 2XU gift card and a Rudy Project bike helmet.
The four additional finalists who were invited to present to the live panel were: Lightning Warriors, Marchri, MG Bros Construction, and Miller Industrial.
Later this summer, USA Triathlon and Elk Grove Village will collaborate to host a Virtual Triathlon CEO Challenge as part of the Power Within Virtual Tri to Tokyo, set for July 19 to September 12 to commemorate the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The event will serve as an opportunity for CEOs and other C-level executives to compete against each other in a virtual format.
www.usatriathlon.org
www.elkgrove.org
www.makerswanted.org
www.4starendurance.com
