Spartan succeeded in hosting its biggest event yet in collaboration with World OCR – with more than 40,000 athletes posting results in 24 hours cross the virtual finish lines in more than 100 countries during “Project Unbreakable: The World’s Largest Virtual Race, powered by Rakuten.”
The event unfolded in the homes, backyards and neighborhoods of athletes on six continents the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Athletes from weekend warriors to pros tackled virtual editions of Spartan’s four signature obstacle course races including the 5k, 20-obstacle Spartan Sprint; 10k, 25-obstacle Spartan Super; half-marathon, 30-obstacle Spartan Beast; and 50k, 60-obstacle Spartan Ultra. Spartan Kids races were also offered ranging from half-mile to two-mile distances for kids ages four to fourteen.
Created for indoor or outdoor completion, athletes hit the virtual course for 70,000 collective hours covering a quarter of a million miles by running, or an alternate aerobic workout, as well as exercises such as bear crawls, jump rope and stair climbing. The obstacles were bodyweight and aerobic exercises such as push-ups and mountain climbers.
There were more than 35,000 posts about the event throughout the weekend with the tag #spartanprojectunbreakable used 17,000 times. All participants earned a global leaderboard spot and virtual medal.
Spartan partnered with World OCR — the Fédération Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles (FISO) — with member federations in 100 countries.
Project Unbreakable is Spartan’s latest effort to keep its community connected and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the event, Spartan saw close to 20,000 entries in weekly virtual races, which began in April. The brand quickly pivoted from race events to digital content, creating Spartan Unbreakable, a 24/7 content engine providing a schedule of live and on-demand at-home workouts and wellness content.
Photo courtesy Spartan
