From two proposals, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, to pulling back the curtain on race policies, 2024 was a year to remember. We had our biggest season to date this year, adding five new events to our calendar as well as launching a triathlon series. We found new ways for our staff to wear onesies to an event, our athletes to have a negative time at the finish line and more opportunities to come together and enjoy the sports we all love.
From our Tris4Health team, we thank every single person who signed up to race with us in 2024.
Below is our top 10 moments from the year in no particular order.
And here’s to 2025…. may we promise to keep surprising you and always keep things interesting. 😉
1. Having a successful inaugural takeover of three Lakeshore events.
In 2024, Tris4Health took over the Bear Lake Triathlon, Grand Haven Triathlon and Armed Services Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K. All three events were well-established and beloved races owned by Ron Knoll and Superior Multisport. It was a privilege to continue on the legacy of these three events, while still having the expertise of Ron race directing. Bear Lake Tri was the perfect triathlon to kick off the season, the Armed Services was our first marathon in our family of events and Grand Haven Tri gave us our first opportunity to pivot and test out our emergency weather plan with the change to a duathlon. We can’t wait to watch these events grow as well as grow our support on the lakeshore.
2. The energy of the Grand Rapids Triathlon aid stations from the Huntington Bank BRGs.
Huntington Bank has been a foundational partner of Grand Rapids Triathlon since the very beginning. They hold a vital presence throughout the year and during race weekend that includes being our co-presenting sponsor and volunteers. This year, they added an additional layer of support by manning the aid stations with their BRGs (Business Resource Groups). The groups included were: Women’s Network, African American, Emerging Professionals, HOLA and the Pride Alliance. Each group decorated their aid stations and they competed for who would be the athlete-favorite table. Ultimately, the Pride Alliance won with their Taylor Swift-inspired friendship bracelets and with their victory, Tris4Health donated $750 to a charity of their choice. The Pride Alliance chose AYA Youth Collective, whose mission is to create communities, rooted in belonging, for youth experiencing instability to own their future.
3. Raising over $81,000 for Mary Free Bed at Grand Rapids Gran Fondo.
This year was the second year of the newly rebranded Grand Rapids Gran Fondo presented by KeyBank. Once again we welcomed nearly 1,500 riders to downtown Grand Rapids for a premier cycling event and one of the most epic post-ride parties around. New for 2024, we teamed up with a new charity partner – Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. Their mission of restoring hope and freedom through rehabilitation resonated so well with the passion behind Fondo that it was a great match. It was also so fun to have so many MFB athletes and hand-cyclists participate in the event. Ultimately, we were beyond thrilled to raise over $81,000 from the community to go to MFB. It was a huge milestone for our event, which gave us a great foundation to now go bigger and better for 2025 – we hope to raise $125K in 2025!
4. Stepping into MTN bike territory
Our fourth new event of 2024 was taking over the Luton Park Time Trial this year. It was our first time adding a mountain-bike event to our family of events. This great event began as a charity event to raise money for the Pitt Hopkins Research Foundation, as the previous race director’s daughter has Pitt Hopkins syndrome. We were honored to carry on the heart behind the race. We also came to fall in love with mountain biking and the laid-back energy of those who like to ride technical! We are excited to grow this event and have it be a part of the inaugural Michigan Off-Road Championship (MORC) next year.
5. Two Finish Line Proposals at Two Different Triathlons
Is there anything more romantic than a finish line? Triathletes don’t seem to think so! We had not one, but two different proposals happen at our events this year. We saw an athlete get down on one knee after he finished his race at the Bear Lake Triathlon in May and then another athlete cross the finish line to a surprise proposal waiting for her at The Dirty Mitten Triathlon in September. Thank you so much for sharing such a special moment with us, it reminds us how this sport is so much more than the sport itself, its about the people who do them.
6. Giving back over $250,000 to charities in 2024
We shifted our mindset in 2024 to be more athletes first and community minded. We want to put on great events that people enjoy, but ultimately also do good for the communities that support us. Through fundraising and donations, our team was able to give over $250,000 to various charities in our community. Organizations such as AYA Collective, MyTeam Triumph West Michigan Chapter, Make-A-Wish Michigan, Mary Free Bed and many more. We hope to continue to do more in 2025.
7. Announcing the Risk-Free Racing policy
Another aspect of that athletes first mindset was taking a look at all aspects of our events to see what areas we could improve on to ultimately improve the overall athlete experience. We found that while our current deferral policy was already pretty generous, we knew we could make it even better. Because let’s face it, life really can kick you in the coconuts lately and we didn’t want to add more force to the blow. Our Risk-Free Racing policy is unlike what any other event company is doing (we asked). We offer FULL REFUNDS up to 60 days before the race. Our hope with our policy is that you see that we are a company that quite literally puts our money where our mouth is, so you can trust who you are racing with and hopefully come back and race with us again and again.
8. Celebrating the first-ever Michigan Triathlon Series with our end of the Series banquet
In 2024, we launched the Michigan Triathlon Series. This no-extra cost to you Series was just a way for us to give an added bonus to all of the athletes who already are racing many of our seven triathlons throughout the season. And hopefully also encourage some more to sign up. It was so fun to see you really dive in and get competitive in the Series. We then hosted a big group of you at our end of the season banquet. It was our team’s first time putting on an event like this, and we had such a blast seeing it all come together. That night honestly was a huge milestone and success for our team and in 2025, with the addition of PRSU Wellness as the presenting sponsor of the Series, we hope to go bigger and better! Series start at Bear Lake – we hope you join us!
9. Witnessing Cori cross the MiTi Ultra-distance finish line at MiTi.
We are fortunate to team up with the amazing organization of myTream Triumph at many of our races throughout the year. They participate in some, such as Grand Rapids Triathlon, Grand Rapids Gran Fondo and Michigan Titanium and they also have hosted all of our beer tents. We love this organization and are proud to support all of their Captains and Angels.
It truly is something remarkable when one Captain dares to take on the 140.6 Ultra-distance triathlon at Michigan Titanium. It requires multiple hours and a lot of stamina/endurance to make it through to the finish line. This year, Cori took on the Ultra challenge and while usually you can find her shooting our announcer Larry Crabbe with a squirt gun, this year she was on course and to witness her cross the line, there was barely any dry eyes at ground zero.
10. Putting on the inaugural The Leftover Run and donating thousands of pounds of food before Thanksgiving
Our last event of the season was a new race we added in 2024. Jon and John’s Tris4Health Grand Rapids Virgil and Louise Phelps Memorial Celebrity Leftovers Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race to End Hunger AKA The Leftover Run. We know a lot of people do a Turkey Trot, but we wanted to start a holiday run as a way to give back before the holidays began. So, we came up with (and when I say we, I mean Mosey, the mastermind behind all of our crazy ideas) this fun idea where you could get time taken off for frozen turkeys or canned goods that you bring in to donate, because the purpose was simple – everyone deserves leftovers on Thanksgiving. We partnered with North Kent Connect and our goal was to fill their van with food. However, I don’t think our team had any idea of how much our community of athletes would turn up. We filled the van alright! We were able to give over 1,000 pounds of turkey and over 1,000 canned goods to North Kent Connect, who they distributed to people in need in Kent County. Our negative time champion? Miss Natalie Rowe who ended up with a time of -40:13 in a 10K!