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3 days ago, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about Spartan Race asserting the company was in financial trouble. This has created a lively discussion within the OCR community.
We have reached out to the most prominent companies in the obstacle racing industry to get their responses.
Tough Mudder President Giles Chatter stated “We need to look beyond unhelpful mischief. It’s been an extraordinarily challenging last couple of years for us all and there are still, as you’d expect, challenges ahead as we build back. I’ll be joining the community at Tough Mudder Philadelphia this weekend whilst remotely enjoying the simultaneous TM events in the US, London, and Malaysia. There will always be the need for business discipline – but the future very much remains bright.” (editor’s note – Tough Mudder is owned by Spartan Race’s parent company)
“Savage Race is doing fine financially. We have always taken a cautiously optimistic approach to our business and this has kept our cash reserves and debt ratios very healthy.”
Lloyd Parker, one of the founders of Savage Race told us “We are doing fine financially. We have always taken a cautiously optimistic approach to our business and this has kept our cash reserves and debt ratios very healthy. Our vendors all get paid. Our turnover is almost non-existent. Our team is the best it’s ever been. The covid nightmare is behind us and we are turning profit again. We are well-positioned to always be here for our community”
Spartan CEO Joe Desena, of whom the article above was written, said “This is old news. The really tough times were 18-20 months ago and we couldn’t do any races. Everyone wanted to kill us including customers and vendors for canceling all the events during Covid.
At the end of 2021, we decided to go for it. We hit the ground running with over 120 events launched at once. To stand it all back up takes a ton of money out of pocket. To get into the details, it means you have to pay 120 venue fees, you have to get 600 plus staff full time going to get these races going.
The numbers are not back to pre covid numbers, but what we are finding is that once participants cross the finish line, they start telling more people. They start signing up for more races. This means the end of the year will be much better than the beginning.”
We also reached out to Sara Persky from Rugged Maniac’s parent company, Ventures Endurance. “Overall, we’re extremely optimistic with the growth that we’ve seen since the world has returned to live in-person events. We’re seeing positive traction for the second half of this year and have confidence that we are on target to continue delivering impactful consumer experiences that the endurance race community has come to expect from us.”
Cover Photo – FitNation
Matt B. Davis
is the host of the Obstacle Racing Media Podcast and the author of “Down and Dirty-The Essential Training Guide for Obstacle Races and Mud Runs”. He is also the only (known) #wafflehouseelite obstacle racer.