Loaded question we know.
We posed the question to you that if you had been in charge in Spartan what would you change and the answers we got.
A LOT
So we present your answers. Without context and with minimal editing.
Kevin Jones
Quit catering to elites and get back to the original mantra of getting people off the couch
One price. If you say a sprint is 79, don’t add $60 in fees.
Changes:
* Bands over Burpees
* Work for Consistency (instead of throwing stuff against the wall and hoping it sticks…and not giving it time to work).
* Try to get back on TV, but let the Elites sign with any sponsor they want. They don’t need a Pro Team to try to control.
* Pay athletes their earnings in a reasonable time frame.
* Obstacle innovation. More challenging. More fun. There’s more to OCR than walls and carries.
* Stop overcrowding heats.
* Sprints should be under $100.
* Improve customer service across the board.
* Work with Savage to avoid scheduling within the same proximity on the same day. Maybe instead of getting 4,000 people on a day, you get 5,500.
Keep:
* Trifectas. Brilliant marketing.
* The Ultra. Very unique in OCR.
* Spear throw is unique (and classic Spartan). Twister is cool too.
* Cool venues. They aren’t all awesome, but there are a lot of great ones.
* Trifecta passes and Season passes.
Brent Dames
How about drop the cult desire, actually start being a positive role in growing OCR as a whole… and stop telling people on public podcasts/shows that you saved people from obesity death by stranding them on a mountain with a basket of fruit
Phillip Andrew
I don’t know if their website is still a hopeless pit of despair, trying to figure how to buy a ticket and then apply that ticket for a certain race on a certain date, at a certain venue, in a certain wave time, under a waxing moon near the solstice, and then finding out you bought the wrong pass to do the race you wanted. I’ve had more fun at the DMV.
Walter Orb
Spartan has major issues. The $$$ value is not there. The nickle and diming for BS extras is a no go for me. Lack innovation, new locations, organization, customer service, etc. don’t follow through on what they say they’re going to do, ie with volunteers. Don’t pay prizes or suppliers.
And there’s more!!! Endless list.
They just lost their way and lost me as a customer. Told them, they didn’t care.
Unfortunately I feel they are playing a big role in the demise of OCR. Sad.
Ildiko Olga Devai
Focus on quality and valuing volunteers. Quality t-shirts, quality drink (local brewery), quality and quality of race photos included in price and make it easy to find them. Treat volunteers well: have decent sandwiches and drinks for them, give a Sprint code for 4-hours, Super code for 5-8 and Beast code for 12 hours of volunteering. And make sure they get the codes right after their shift and not have to beg for it and send a bunch of emails and messages to get what they worked for. They would get more volunteers that way 🤷
apollo_ocr
It’s impossible to answer. We don’t know where he is bleeding money being a private company at all. As racers, we could make our wish list. But chances are that wouldn’t be profitable.
tenniswagner
1w
- Get Desana out of it.
- Pair down the race schedule – 1 per weekend/3 per month instead of multiple locations at the same time.
- Elite runs become no obstacle fail. Age Group is fail = 30 burpees. Open is fail = burpees (drop it to 15 per)
- Evaluate all obstacles for time delays and eliminate bottlenecks.
- Eliminate injury prone obstacles to reduce insurance risks.
- Fire the 13 year olds running Spartan social media.
- Quality
Personally, I think Spartan needs to clean house and start over fresh with a completely new cast of characters
hale1114ocr
1w
Without looking at the financials and doing a real valuation, these are my random ideas.
Mandatory obstacle completion. Examine the finances to see where to cut expenses, to help lower fees to racers. Reach out to the other OCRs to re-build a cohesive championship where all races large and small bring obstacles. Collaborate more with other races. Work with other races to not book on top of their schedules where possible (a lot of which depends on venue availability). Work with OCR Report to livestream as many races as possible. Branch out into the growing Midwest.
danaibrahimmoreno’s profile picture
danaibrahimmoreno
1w
I would not talk about politics
\
theshark.fit
1w
Dial it back. Spartan is spread too thin. Then remove @realjoedesena. You can’t run a company when everyone thinks you’re a thief. Finally, take the company back to its fundamental roots, and get back to getting people off the couch.
barton.smith.334’s profile picture
barton.smith.334
I have enjoyed Spartan for quite a few years. First thing I would do is fix the website…..it should be bulletproof….I hear too many people complaining about myself included It needs to be bulletproof. I like Joe’s attitude about doing tough things and think the statement “You’ll know at the finish line!'” needs to head up the advertising campaign and really focus on advertising and media to get the message out to as many people as possible. I would also dump Craft and team up with a company for t-shirts that fit the average person and won’t shrink. Theres too much merchandise too, I would focus more on experience than t-shirts hats and shoes. I’d also set up a loyalty program for people to help reduce race prices.
Spartan needs a new leader and return back to basics, get rid of the pistol, introduce burpees on particular obstacles like the spear throw and rigs, where there easy to marshal, stick with penalty loops with carries, sack off the nets, and get more youngsters involved.
steve_cosenzo
Downsize go back to basics. They’ve lost touch with their customers
I think it’d be cool for different regions having the same/similar course, rather than only getting a variety of 3-5 different obstacles no matter where you go. Midwest- strength based, maybe swim, PNW- high climbs and vert challenges, south- swamp, ranch, mud, crawling, carrying obstacles
centurionc50’s profile picture
centurionc50
A many tentacled question.
Satisfaction of the life blood, the open racers, needs to be addressed first. Crappy shirts, insufficient medals, failure to address comments post race, racer safety to name a few issues requiring immediate attention.
Once your core customers are happy then the business side can be addressed.
e
1buff2tuff
Merge with Tough Mudder, make one race using both sets of obstacles
To start, give the people back the courses that got Spartan where they are. Stop trying to milk every cent out of the ones that pay the Spartan bills, start innovating their own obstacles, stop getting rid of the race directors people love and embrace their courses, stop acting like they care about people when all they actually care about is their wallets. Spartan used to be tough and now they put this watered down nonsense out there while trying to convince people it’s tough. They need a 100%reset.
Make it more like the european versions
In an ideal world…. Live streaming at all events and not just average phone cameras (people need to be able to see the sport it is going to gain any traction with gen pop), paying podium finishers on time for elite and age group (doesn’t have to be millions, but it’s an incentive to show up), bring back burpees – penalty lps are weak, bring back non-standardized courses – the raw and unknown is what attracted most of us in the first place, stop trying to force OCR into the Olympics (I know that’s not necessarily Spartan, but they’re on board with it… It’s tacky throwing a 100m course into pentathlon and calling it OCR ), work with other races and other racer’s to grow the sport – allow non branded t-shirts on podiums). In summary , build the grass roots, get good, clean, quick footage out en masse, and pay/incentivise your people – K.I.S.S: Keep It Simple Stupid.
Hard to make an evaluation without seeing Financials, but the lack of convenience is a real issue. I live in Milwaukee, and the closest race is 4 hours away. There isn’t much incentive to pay +$100 plus gas, and lodging to get bottle necked at obstacles.
I will bring the Gladiators back, discontinue maps and bring back the memory test. All registration fees under $100.
