Tougher than tough: CEO Fitness Challenge tests the power of the executive class outside the office.

• Author: Sandrock, Mike
• Position: CEO CHALLENGE

As soon as he hits the track at Boulder High School, Ted Kennedy begins running faster, his legs turning over quickly as his breathing and energy increases. He talks faster, too, and soon, as he floats around the track, he is running close to a five-minute mile pace.

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Kennedy, head of CEO Challenge LLC, runs a couple of more 400 meters at close to 75 seconds each, then jogs off to cool down on a fall day so beautiful the credit crisis and stock market plunge are no more than a distant nuisance.

"I love the track," says Kennedy, 51, as he recovers with an easy run along Boulder Creek. "There is something about racing, about measuring yourself and pushing yourself."

Measuring himself, and CEOs, is something Kennedy does well, one reason he put on the inaugural Denver CEO Fitness Challenge. The competition, hosted by the Colorado Athletic Club, is the newest event in CEO Challenges, the firm Kennedy started in 2005 after originating the concept with the CEO Ironman Challenge in 2001. The premise is simple: C-level execs compete over a series of four tests--pushups in a minute; crunches to exhaustion; step-ups in three minutes; and flexibility.

Kennedy formed his company after leaving a corporate job with Best Foods, makers of Hellmann's, Knorr, Skippy and Mazola. Since then, CEO Challenges has grown to 13 events on three continents, highlighted by the CEO Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.

"It has been fantastic growth," Kennedy said of the Challenges, in which CEOs compete in "races within a race" in order to find the fittest in their sport. They get VIP treatment and the chance to turn their years of training into an experience valuable for themselves and their firms.

"I launched CEO Challenges to take the CEO Ironman concept to a number of other sports that CEOs are passionate about," he said.

Kennedy has long had a passion for running and fitness, ever since he was a prep miler in Canada, and then on to the University of Guelph, where he graduated in 1979 with a degree in physical geography and the school record in the 1,500 meters. Like many promising young athletes, Kennedy gave up competitive running when he was just 22, with a personal best 1,500 meter time of 3 minutes, 50 seconds (roughly a 4:07 mile). Instead of running on the roads or track, he began racing up the corporate ladder.

Kennedy climbed all the way to vice president of sales and marketing with Best Foods, seemingly on track for a comfortable life. Through all the long work weeks and...