The news comes as Spartan CEO and founder Joe De Sena said he’s nearing a deal to acquire some of Warrior Dash’s assets.
“At the very least, what we’re doing is salvaging all their customers and giving them the ability to race at a Spartan Race,” Joe De Sena, founder and CEO of Spartan, said in an interview with Obstacle Racing Media. “Anybody that’s signed up for an event that’s not going to occur at Warrior Dash, they can come race for us for free.”
You can watch De Sena’s interview with ORM podcast host Matt Davis below:
“It’s been an awesome run for a decade to bring millions of people off the couch together,” De Sena said. “It’s kind of a bittersweet moment to see them getting out of the business.”
Several OCR companies, including Spartan, have announced that Warrior Dash racers could transfer any tickets bought for canceled events for free or reduced admission to the race of their choice. De Sena said an email would go out to past Warrior Dash customers in the near future.
Warrior Dash was a popular 5K mud run that operated for 10 years and, along with Spartan and Tough Mudder, helped bring obstacle course racing into the mainstream.
Red Frog, Warrior Dash’s parent company, had been trying to sell it to another entity since May, according to ORM. An email obtained by ORM stated Red Frog is, “no longer a company.” The company sold the rights to the Firefly Festival, an annual mega-concert, to Coachella in 2018.
