As it has on all sport events across the globe, COVID-19 has hit Spartan Race – the global leader in obstacle races – hard. At least 60 of the 325 races Spartan scheduled around the world for 2020 will be either postponed or cancelled. All of them, however, have been turned into virtual challenges in a remarkable and groundbreaking digital strategy.
Despite the blow, its founder and CEO, Joe de Sena, remains optimistic about the future. Against the widespread view that this crisis will have deep long-term effects on mass events, he is confident that once people are able to resume their lives, “sport events will get back to where they left off.” Moreover, he predicts a bounce-back effect.
In Episode 7 of #WFSatHome, we Zoom into Joe’s Vermont farm, where he is locked down with part of the Spartan team, to see how one of the most inspiring entrepreneurs across the sport industry envisions the aftermath of COVID-19.
Although Spartan was one of the first fitness properties to ride the digital wave (spoiler alert!), De Sena believes “virtual will never replace the human need to get together.”
