Hi, please find my design attached. The concept has a few different items contained within to represent various aspects of your events. The overall shape of the icon is a Spartan Warrior helmet - this contains the going in to battle aspect and also the fearless, optimum, best of the best warrior aspect as the spartans were renowned warriors. The second item within my design is that the top half of the helmet forms the shape of an eagle - the eagle is a symbol of pride and success. The star under the helmet brings in the championship/winning/superstar status that comes from winning these events.
There is added energy in the design through the slightly skewed angle of the helmet - bringing speed and movement to the icon.
The symbol on it's own is powerful and effective and would look really good on apparel as mentioned in your brief.
Please let me know if you'd like to see any changes.