Right after the “Spartan Mona Lisa” incident, Joe DeSena went on social media and explained what happened. I commented on his post and after that time, Joe and I were emailing back and forth about ideas that OCR Buddy sent to him in the past.
In our discussions, Joe challenged me to gather 100 questions from the OCR Community that he said that he would answer himself and send them back to me. Joe also said he would use the questions and answers to help Spartan in other ways. I agreed and started to gather questions from you, the OCR Community.
We received many. Some were the same and others were asked in different ways. But, they were put together and I wanted to post them here for you to see the OCR Community’s Questions for Joe DeSena.
This is the first step for me. I believe that OCR Buddy can play a very important role as Spartan moves forward and I look forward to seeing Joe’s answers and building our relationship moving forward,
Happy reading.
Russ – OCR Buddy
1. How do we know that this will be Joe DeSena answering our questions and not an underling or an Intern?
2. If you are truly about changing the world and getting people off the couch, would you think about cross promoting with other small local obstacle races in the various regions you travel to around the country?
3. As a fan of Spartan I used to do 3 to 4 trifectas a year. Now with prices increasing in everything, it’s just not in the cards anymore to do one let alone four. What would need to happen for races to become more affordable again?
4. What is the plan to bring the trifecta chasers and the Original Generation Spartans BACK to the brand? (Russ edit – So many people have not returned to Spartan who were racing 2018 and before. The question is asked to see if there is a plan to reach out to the original Spartan racers and bring them back to your events)
5. How does Spartan plan to hold onto the racers once they’re “ripped off the couch”?
6. How will Spartan leverage the SGX program and promote more obstacle racing development, not just for Spartan, but for the sport as a whole?
7. How will Spartan work to promote the SGX coaches and to bring interested athletes to them for coaching? Has this even been a thought?
8. There’s been a lot of noise regarding making races tougher and more competition oriented, which is great for serious athletes. However, this might make things more intimidating for newcomers. With a brand that’s already considered one of the toughest, how do you plan to get new people off the sofa and living their best Spartan life? (Russ edit – while this is like the question above. Please answer it with the focus of the intimidated racers and how will you get them off of the couch?)
9. Do you not understand that the local or smaller races are somewhat of a farm league to Spartan (as compared to baseball)? When will Spartan begin to work to not schedule Spartan events on top smaller local brands? Do you realize that the smaller local brand is beneficial to your brand as well? 40% of our new racers go on to race a Spartan event. You have to remember this is a sport and not one company.
10. How do you plan to keep your events interesting to keep racers coming back? Standardized courses are understandable for many reasons but at the current cost of the events, it is discouraging for athletes to pay that amount to come to multiple events that are identical, get the same medal and same T-shirt.
11. In a world where OCR is suffering, Spartan could be (due to resources) the saving Grace to the sport but focusing on elites or the super athletic population is drawing a very small crowd. Why doesn’t Spartan market to a broader audience of the public? Maybe every post or email doesn’t have perfect bodied athlete and abs (six packs) for days? Getting an average person to one event can change their life and health and marketing to a broader audience will grow the sport.
12. The only thing I would like to see in the future is Spartan / Tough Mudder to work with other racing organizations. Schedules and promotions as well as working together to save obstacle racing and see a rebirth of our sport. Would Spartan be open to that concept?
13. Why is 100% completion not mandatory with Elite/Age Group, considering penalty & retry of obstacle or forfeit the band? (Russ edit – This is becoming a more popular sentiment with the obstacle racing community)
14. Why is there not a step-up on taller obstacles for females/shorter athletes? For example, Stairway to Sparta in which you need to be a taller individual to advance to the first hand hold, but there is a foot hold on lower obstacles such as Olympus?
15. Why are there not more officials to watch during the Elite/Age Group wave to prevent unsportsmanlike conduct like skipping penalties/obstacles? (Witnessed this myself firsthand)
16. How do you plan to entice racers on both Open and Elite/Age group with obstacles and race formatting to keep it both fun & challenging? After going from what some had complained previous versions of the course being too easy, to taking a drastic swing and making it so much more aggressive and difficult, the events have become discouraging for even Elite/Age Group athletes? How do you plan to make courses fun but manageable for new racers who want to participate but after one race are completely defeated after one race because of extensive difficulty?
17. Pricing has increased tremendously. It is making the sport a more expensive and a “small fortune wielding task” as opposed to a fun way to get out and encourage fitness for those looking to do couch-to-5k style training with family & friends and to those trying to help small businesses which make up obstacle racing. How do you plan to make this more of an affordable sport for those who utilize this sport as an active lifestyle encouragement/promoter?
18. Injured athletes who were injured on the course, transported from the course (namely Palmerton Super in July 2023) and DNF have reached out directly to Spartan only to be told they would not be compensated for their shirt/medal. They were told that they could have a code for a trail race (to clarify not a Super, Sprint or Beast). I understand they signed a wavier and it’s a finisher medal, but what can you do to be a better support to these athletes to retain them and not scare them off as these are the people you want to return and seek redemption? Those who were pulled off the course and DNF due to weather did receive their medals and shirts either. (Russ edit – It seems that there is an issue with customer support here and the ability to reach out to athletes with issues. Additionally, the perception of saying “no” is resonating withing the obstacle community)
19. When will you be introducing new obstacle innovation to the course? Not speaking of making current obstacles harder, but creating a new grip obstacle.
20. Have you ever thought of creating multiple Regional Age Group Series (East Coast/West Coast) to make it easier for racers to participate without excessive travel? Top finishers can qualify for National Championships through these Regional Series.
21. Other races allow you to race competitively and then volunteer. Spartan volunteer’s sign up has been low, have you considered allowing Elite and Age Group racers to race and then volunteer?
22. Spartan gets the complaint that it’s tone deaf to its racers all the time. Would you consider creating a Feedback Committee of Elite, Age Group and Open racers that can evaluate your top changes and innovations for races?
23. Why can Savage Race put out multiple new obstacles each year, but you haven’t even put out one new obstacle in multiple years? (Russ edit – This is like a previous question. However, let me ask this question another way. Other brands are using innovation to keep us coming back to see what is new and how these new challenges will test us. Spartan does not appear to be doing that.
24. How will you be more customer service friendly? Customer service is a huge complaint amongst racers.
25. Could stadium races be expanded to include Super and/or Beast distances? Could there be a two-stadium event in the future as part of this? Is a Stadium Trifecta even possible?
26. Will Spartan ever come to India?
27. If you had to choose between hitting your “rip them off the coach” goal or getting obstacle racing in the Olympics (or making elite racing the focus), which would you choose?
28. In my opinion, what made Spartan great was the unknown. How far was it really going to be? What obstacles were going to be there? It seems that now there is too much consistency, and we all know what to expect. How can these be mixed?
29. Do you think that Spartan should get back to its roots a little bit and, at least on the open side, be done with all this focusing on the small percentage of elite racers?
30. Does Spartan have any sort of long-term plan? If so, can you share some of it with us.
31. Why did spartan do away with the 30 burpee penalties for Age Group and Elite racers?
32. What will Spartan do to try and understand their current and potential audience better in future?
33. What checks will Spartan put in place around their future marketing and social media content? Do they have editors and external consultants for their social media strategy? (Russ edit – This comment was in direct response to the Mona Lisa post. I would personally add that I have emailed a contact at Spartan when I see social media posts that are an issue, i.e. Showing someone using an obstacle illegally)
34. What is Spartan doing about environmental sustainability?
35. Should I feel motivated or disrespected by your blatant lie about that Mona Lisa image? If motivated, how in the world is that supposed to work?
36. What’s been your favorite race event he’s participated in and why?
37. What’s been your least favorite event and why?
38. Can we get more 50 K Spartan trails on the East Coast? And can we get an Ultra at West Virginia next year? (Russ edit – While answering these specific questions, Joe maybe you can explain what goes into selecting what types of races happen at which venues and why)
39. Would you consider giving current season pass holders more notice on the price and availability of passes to help them plan to buy (more than just 1 week)? Also, provide more than two tiers (Tier 1: US Pass as is (all races except for Ultras or Trails) / Tier 2: US Pass that includes Ultras or Trails / Tier 3: US Pass that includes both Ultras and Trails (Similar to the Current Ultra Pass but just for US Races)). North America pass does not include Mexico.
40. The clear goal is to “rip people off the couch” but what percentage of your focus is on the elite side of the sport? If it’s a reasonably high percentage, can you name 5 current elites who participate in your races regularly?
41. When do you anticipate to be caught up on all prize money payouts?
42. What will it take for you to reanalyze your “fire, ready, aim” approach since the lack of a focused plan continues to permeate Spartan Race?
43. What happened with the Stadions? Between the Baylor switch up, losing Citizen’s Bank Park, and not having the North Jersey race, the Stadion events seem dead. What can be done to bring them back?
44. When will Spartan Race come to Northern Europe?
45. If the CEO of Spartan Race believes that alcohol is bad for you (as seen on social media), why continue to give away free alcohol on race day?
46. My question would be about their decision to change TM to 15K next year, a distance that I may not do if all I get is 20 obstacles. Are there plans to expand the number of obstacles for a longer event?
47.
My question is regarding the dozens that I boosted over walls, ones I jogged past as they walked aside, they have commented that a 15k event is too long. If there are people that will not show up, why make that fundamental change?
(continued)
What do you say to those people that you are willingly pushing away from the product for seemingly no reason when Spartan already exists in this space? Does you feel any remorse for them?
48. Why did they change from giving the Ultra bib at transition to the packet pick up? This way, people have the ultra-bib without earning it because ultra is the two lap event. Get back to earning the bib. Thoughts?
49. Will Spartan invest resource into developing an athlete pathway for junior racers transitioning into ‘adult’ distances?
50. Will spartan ever start caring for the volunteers again? Taking care of volunteers includes listening to volunteers when they have an issue instead of blowing them off.
51. What will Spartan do to increase the para-community in the United States?
52. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done and how did you get through it?
53. Any ideas to expand on Stadions? Maybe such as a Stadion super? (Russ edit – this was asked before in a different way. Maybe you can expand of future plans for the Stadion race and possible bring back the series?
54. Will Spartan ever bring back the Winter Race at Greek Peak or a different location in US?
55. Will Spartan ever become affordable for people who can’t justify $150+ for a race let alone travel costs?? People used to believe the volunteer program was worth it.
56. Will Spartan ensure more safety measures at all obstacles to either include a mat, hay or water under every obstacle, especially the swinging/hanging obstacles?
All injured racers should receive a race medal without question. I reached out to Spartan and asked if I could receive my medal because I completed most of Palmerton and fractured my wrist in four places at beater, which had no safety underneath it at all, and was told that I could not get a medal because I did not cross the finish line. I had surgery the next day and I’m recovering slowly.
57. Will the 3k Series be brought back next year?
58. Is there any plans to expand the 3k Series elsewhere in the world and possibly the Spartan World Championships?
59. Will there be prize money at WTM?
60. If the incentive is to rip people off the couch, what is the incentive for those that are already off the couch? Those that have the medals and the shirts already. What is being done to keep people coming back?
61. What is the reasoning that the overall leaderboard (and motivation to be top and get prizes) was taken away? Why take away ways that people can be recognized?
62. The different types of series gave racers either a chance to specialize or a chance to challenge themselves to a type of series (national, stadium, mountain) of events? What is the reasoning behind these types of series taken away?
63. When will Spartan make things hard again rather than just appealing to the masses. Courses keep getting watered down and it seems like the innovation for change is gone as they seek to make money and standardize? (Russ edit – This is a problem for you Joe. You have received the same question from the other side. How can you balance those that want innovation, those that want harder challenges on the course and those that feel the events should appeal to the masses more?)
64. Joe, screw Tough Mudder. Where is the 24-hour Ultra WC for Spartan?
65. Has focus shifted from Spartan to Tough Mudder thus potentially damaging the Spartan brand, and will you be continuing the brand cross over of obstacles?
66. What is the reasoning (if any) for not giving overall age group awards for the age group series that was done only in 2021?
67. Will Spartan ever become affordable for people who cannot justify $150+ for a race let alone travel costs? (Russ edit – this question was asked before in other wording)
68. What do you say to the Pacific North West region who saw their Spartan/TM schedule get decimated in 2023? How do we get Spartan to see the passionate population here that is now down to one race weekend in Seattle?
69. How can Spartan make themselves more approachable to the beginner who wants to get involved with the sport?
70. In the roundtable you mentioned Spartan does not charge enough; what do you say to the people who feel like this comment is tone deaf with the current state of the economy?
71. Can Spartan do more to support growth in this sport? What can Spartan do to show that it does not work in a vacuum and other brands also need to exist and thrive.
72. You seem to be very out of touch with your followers. Why do you continue to post scientifically unproven nonsense without sources?
73. Why is there no innovation?
74. Why are favorite venues canceled or moved?
75. Why have you been staying away from the Pacific Northwest? (Russ edit – This was asked. However, maybe there can be some discussion as to why some areas of the country have multiple events in the same locations and other parts of the country get minimal attention. How does Spartan choose areas/locations? Demographics?)
76. Why does Agoge only list an event only a few months before event day where others are much longer (up to a year)?
77. Why are registration fees so expensive?
78. Why are the insurance costs so expensive and the same for each and every event?
79. A Sprint costs 4x as much as it did 5 years ago. Can you share your pricing strategy and what you are doing to make the events more affordable?
80. If we are racing in two events on the same day, why are we paying the same registration fees two times?
81. Why are Hurricane Heats scheduled, if at all, during trifecta weekends and not at approachable times like 6pm on Friday night or 6pm Saturday night. They always seem to be during events.
82. Why are coins now something given away at sponsored events instead of earned?
83. What happened to the SGX Workout Tours?
84. After the events of this weekend (Russ edit – meaning the Mona Lisa controversy), what will you do differently and what have you learned?
85. You are losing Open heat racers to smaller, local brands. What are you going to do to work to bring them back? Are you willing to work with these smaller events in the overall scheme of the sport?
86. Why not do a 3k “Starter Spartan” for those who are interested and those that want to get involved but seem scared of the longer distances and do not want to do a Sprint or feel that they cannot. If we are about getting people off the couch, doesn’t that make sense?
87. People are leaving Spartan because the obstacles feel watered down and the event no longer appeals to “masses”. I stopped doing Spartan for that reason. There needs to be a sweet spot that keeps the masses engaged and the Elites/Age Groupers encouraged to come back.
88. What do you envision Spartan’s role if OCR is picked as an individual sport? What do you see as Spartan’s role if it stays with Modern Pentathlon?
89. Is Spartan considering a Ninja league like UNAA, FINA, WNL featuring the gyms around the word?
90. If you are so “pro burpees” why did you allow them to be removed from the event?
91. Which Spartan locations are owned by “Spartan” and which countries are franchises?
92. USA only to make it easy, what was the number of Spartan finishers in 2019, 2020, 2012 and 2022. Same question for Tough Mudder
93. Why is Tough Mudder appearing to become a mirror image of Spartan?
94. Do your races cater to those only physically fit? If so, why? If not, where do you expect the people to start?
95. Why did you get rid of the shorter Tough Mudder distances, but leave the 5k for Spartan? Do you believe people can do 10 miles out of nowhere?
96. How many employees does Spartan have? In the live feed, you mentioned a team in Japan. You mentioned 50-60 people in marketing. What is the number of worldwide Spartan employees pre-pandemic and today. Employees can be for any and all brands owned by Spartan.
97. In 2021, Spartan was sued in a class action lawsuit Fruitstone vs Spartan Race. In that case, the argument is that racers were being charged for insurance and then Spartan used that money for other purposes. Currently, we are being charged for a Parking/Bag/Merchandise Discount Fee and then a Mandatory Administrative, Insurance and Management Fee. After that, a Processing Fee is attached. For a Beast, I was charged an additional 27% to participate. Please justify through numbers the breakdown of the fees and how can it cost $22 to process a payment that is done electronically. Typical fee is 4% not 13%
98. Where do you feel Spartan has succeeded in building the OCR Community as a whole. Where do you think it has failed?
99. Would Spartan be willing to work with smaller brands at your regional events? As an example, Newbsanity was invited to have a booth at Greek Peak. These local events can keep people engaged through the year as Spartan makes only one or two visits a year.
100. Is there a fear that the apparent focus shifting from Spartan to TM will damage the Spartan name and brand?
101. Will Spartan/Tough Mudder continue the crossover of obstacles and events in the future?
102. Do you have a concrete plan to welcome more women into the OCR Community and make it feel like a welcoming and approachable community?
