Coronavirus Diaries From the C-Suite
The Brutal Reality of Running an Extreme Fitness Company When No One Can Leave Their Homes
How Joe De Sena—the CEO of Spartan Race and Tough Mudder—is pivoting his business in the age of quarantine
Coronavirus Diaries From the C-Suite is a new Marker series where leaders share how the pandemic is impacting their businesses.
On March 13, Joe De Sena, the founder and CEO of the 10-year-old extreme fitness company Spartan Race, found himself in Sparta, Greece. He was there to become an honorary citizen (along with the actors Gerard Butler and Billy Zane), a result of the tourism boost Spartan Race has brought to the town. When President Trump suddenly announced he would be closing the borders to Europe, De Sena caught the first flight out of Greece. It was on his flight that he mapped out an emergency plan for the Boston-based company, which has nearly 500 employees and puts on endurance competitions (with feats such as spear-throwing and mud crawls under barbed wire) for some 1.8 million participants a year. Not only had De Sena just acquired his competitor Tough Mudder out of bankruptcy — for $700,000, assuming some $10 million in liabilities — he’s since had to shut down all of his company’s races in…
