You’re probably expecting me to write about the New York City Marathon this weekend… I’ve covered the marathon and running business to death here, here, here, and here. So instead, my New York City Marathon story.
It was 2008. I was at Rodale working with Runner’s World, and I was in the middle of a monster year of events. The South Beach Triathlon and the Bronx Biathlon in April. Ironman 70.3 St. Croix in May. Escape from Alcatraz in June, then a half marathon at Pacific Crest in Sunriver, outside Bend, Oregon, the day before the 2008 Portland Livestrong Challenge, at the Nike World Headquarters in nearby Beaverton with our Nissan clients (back when yellow wristbands were still a fashion statement). Ironman Lake Placid in late July. The Tour of the Catskills in August, back when it was a three-day stage race. It returns to its former glory in 2027 (Anthem Sports Tours), thanks to long-time friend and race director extraordinaire, Dieter Drake. The Long Beach half in October, the Livestrong 5k run and 100-mile ride in Austin the weekend before New York, and then the ING New York City Marathon on November 2 with a group of AMEX clients. Oh, and my wife was nine months pregnant with our son.
So I ran with my MetroCard, $20 bill, and cell phone in my pocket. Running across the 59th Street Bridge, I called her. She was at Tavern on the Green with my good friend and work colleague, PC, and I asked: should I keep running, or head to the hospital?
My wife said, “Keep running; I’m good, but be quick about it!“ I finished in 3:32:59 (Athlinks), probably not the time I wanted, but a pretty good way to cap a humongous year.
Then I hobbled back into work Monday, and within the first hour of my day, I got laid off, along with 111 other Rodale employees, in the great 2008 media shedding. (Fortunately, I had a contract.) Our son was born that Thursday, November 6.
That’s my New York City Marathon story. Good luck to everyone toeing the line Sunday. Keep your phone charged (because you no longer need a MetroCard or cash!).
Mainstream sports biz spent the week on the Lakers’ reported $12.5 billion sale to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger (ESPN), Stu Sternberg watching the team he sold make the World Series without him (The Athletic), and the Brewers-Rays ratings (Yahoo Sports). Meanwhile, another hybrid fitness race landed in America; Strava went after your dog walk; flag football kept winning LA28 before it starts; my alma mater launched a media and membership platform; and, despite Ragnar’s parent company going bankrupt, one of the event industry’s veteran experts is going to save it.
That’s the beat. Welcome to Issue 009.
The Cap Table
1. HYROX has company ·
Fitness Racing · Events
ATHX Games, the U.K.-founded, Adidas-backed functional fitness race, makes its U.S. debut November 7 in Long Beach ($149 to enter) and is heading to six more U.S. cities in 2027, including New York, Chicago, Denver, and Nashville (Athletech News; ATHX). The format is 2.5 hours across six zones (strength, endurance, a MetCon finale, and more), scored out of 100, with a 30-minute Recovery zone stocked with the latest recovery tech in the middle (ATHX). A race with a built-in spa break. My past Ironman self is jealous.
ATHX expects 80,000 athletes across 45 events worldwide in 2027. That’s a big number for a company that’s never run a race here. The pitch is that HYROX is all running and sleds, and ATHX is for people who can actually deadlift. "Do you even lift, bro?" But every new format eventually learns what HYROX already figured out: the workout isn’t the product. The city, the crowd, the finish photo, and the reason to come back next year are the product. Show me the second-year retention in Denver, and I’ll show you a business. As I wrote this week in We’ve Seen This Race Before, expansion is the announcement. Repeat participation is the business. "DYEL?"
2. Strava wants your dog walk ·
Platforms · Fitness
Strava now says it has 200 million users in more than 185 countries and supports more than 50 sport types, from weight training to boating to backcountry skiing. CMO Louisa Wee, ex-Netflix, is widening the tent: “A lot of these people aren’t singularly runners or cyclists” (Adweek). Strength is a big push, with a Hevy integration and Summer House’s Carl Radke as the face of a strength event at Soft Bar (Marketing Brew). Kudos for the 18 holes of golf, Carl, and “DYEL?” (again).
I get it. Walkers don’t churn the way marathoners do after their goal race, and a subscription business lives on retention. But here’s where I got shot out of the back of the peloton. Running USA’s survey this month found the Garmin app (56.4%) passed Strava (54.2%) among core runners (SGB). Strava started as a cycling platform with KOMs & QOMs, and stayed true to the core and further built up its brand on the Saturday long run and the ‘Segment Hunters', the people who made the segment leaderboards matter. It was once said, "Comparison is the thief of joy", but man, that crown in your profile is good social currency! Widen the tent all you want, just don’t forget who put up the poles.
3. Flag football is winning LA28 already ·
Olympic Sports · Youth
Of all the sports being added for LA28, flag football is the one winning before the Games even start. I was at a water polo match this week at a traditional football powerhouse on the East Coast, and out the window I watched two schools playing flag football on a field next to the padded football players practicing. The game of the future, happening on the field next door to the game of the past.
The numbers back up what I saw out that window. More than 1.8 million kids played flag football last year, up 32%. It’s a sanctioned girls’ varsity sport in more than 20 states, about 139 college programs play this season, and more than 170 are projected for next year, with an NCAA vote on championship status in January (AP via 9News). The pros are coming too. Michael Strahan, CAA, and SMAC launched the Grand Slam of Flag with a $500,000 prize pool, debuting in L.A. before the Super Bowl, and TMRW Sports is building a league with the NFL. Commissioner Sam Rapoport: “We’re turning women’s flag football from an Olympic moment into a global sports business.” Ahem, other NGBs, you may want to reread that section and take notes.
The rub: two pro products before the Olympic debut is either momentum or a land grab, and probably both. The sport’s real asset is the pipeline from youth leagues to high school to college to Team USA. Whoever owns the youth and college layer will own the sport. The pros just get the TV time.
4. ZONA+ and the Laxcats ·
College Sports · Membership
My alma mater launched ZONA+, a fan membership covering all 22 Arizona varsity programs: three tiers (or a one-time donation), behind-the-scenes content, events, merch discounts, and VIP access, with a free 60-day trial. The dues support student-athletes through NIL opportunities (Arizona Athletics). Its first event, a baseball game against Mexico’s Naranjeros de Hermosillo, drew 7,100 fans to Hi Corbett Field.
My honest read: this is a smart NIL collective wearing a fan club jacket, and I mean that as a compliment. Every athletic department now needs recurring revenue that isn’t a ticket. A membership with real access beats another “donate now” email. The test is whether the content is good enough that people stay after the 60 days, because nobody keeps paying for a press release with a paywall. I know a platform or two that had a similar strategy before leadership took a left turn without a blinker for the 800th time.
Personal note: I played lacrosse at Arizona for the legendary Mickey-Miles Felton, who ran the Laxcats for the better part of four decades, won 300-plus games, and did most of it as a volunteer (U of A Lacrosse). It was a club team, so the players ran the finances, logistics, and marketing ourselves (AZ Jewish Post). Lacrosse isn’t one of the 22 varsity sports, so the Laxcats won’t be on ZONA+. Mickey would have sold the memberships himself anyway. Man, I miss those California road trips in my Land Cruiser (long live Swamp Thing), alongside Gary’s Pathfinder, Freshman driving while we were seats down in the back with bean bags and a keg, then leveling up to the Bounder RV our senior year. I could go on with stories…
Bear Down!
5. Mission Affordable ·
Skiing · Youth
Matador ran the piece every ski executive should read before their next board meeting. Peak-day adult lift tickets this season are expected to hit $374 at Vail, $392 at Beaver Creek, and $369 at Park City. A family of four on full Epic passes pays $3,536. At Powderhorn in Colorado, run by Pacific Group Resorts, kids five and under ski for $29 a season, a four-pack of no-blackout tickets is $279, and one kid’s entire season, with gear from the ski patrol swap, lessons, and a pass, came in under $700 (Matador Network).
A family with a six-year-old learning to ski doesn’t need 70 mountains. They need a bunny hill and a cheap basket of chicken fingers. Last week, I said your couch is way better than an Epic Pass. Turns out a $29 kids’ pass is too. Vail is selling the Ritz. The sport needs more Holiday Inns with a magic carpet.
Fumbles & Vaporware
Relay, Interrupted. FitLab, the holding company that owns Ragnar and once ran Nike Studios and Y7 yoga, filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware, listing $10 million to $50 million in assets against $100 million to $500 million in liabilities (Athletech News). Along the way came vendor allegations of unpaid invoices, delayed payroll deposits, and a nearly $1 million lawsuit over unpaid Nike Studios construction work (ActionHub). In 2022, FitLab bought Ragnar alongside Fitplan and Electric as a hybrid fitness roll-up, with studios, apps, and events all under one roof (Athletech News). The roll-up deck always has a flywheel slide. It rarely has a slide on who pays the porta-potty vendor. Ragnar’s runners got Appalachians and Minnesota canceled for their trouble.
Signal Check
Roughly 25%: the stake UNA Sports just bought in curling’s Rock League and its parent, The Curling Group, in an eight-figure round (Sportico).
Every four years, America discovers curling, yells at a broom for two weeks, and forgets about it by March. UNA is betting it doesn’t have to. The New York group, founded in 2025, also owns both New York X Games League franchises and just invested in Unrivaled. President David Rader said what everyone is quietly thinking: “Upside is compressed in the Big Five, because you’ve got such high valuations to begin with.” And he wants board seats and control, not passive minority stakes. That’s this newsletter’s whole thesis in one investor quote. While the Lakers trade at $12.5 billion, the asymmetric bets are in sports where a board member can still change the outcome. Curling has an ESPN deal, a majority-female audience, and a format built for TV. Hurry hard.
Who’s Building
Dana Lerner (SheScores). A Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and lifelong hockey player built a women’s sports scoreboard by herself, with no team, sponsors, or investors (The Rising Fastball). The SheScores app now covers more than 20 leagues across pro and college sports, with push notifications, player pages with stats and bios, league information, and sports basics and rules to help fans discover new sports (App Store). The big media companies keep saying women’s sports are a priority. Dana just built the scoreboard. Sometimes the best business plan is getting annoyed enough to fix it yourself.
Philip LaHaye (Ragnar). Full bias disclosure: Philip and I have crossed paths in the events world more than a few times, and I’ve known for a while how hard he’s been working to save Ragnar and bring the brand and the experience back to a high level. While FitLab was coming apart, a new investor group has stepped in to keep races running (Hybrid Fitness Media), and the handoff to new ownership is close (ActionHub). His goal is to “restore Ragnar as the premier relay running event company.” Through all of it, he kept the races running, and that’s the job. The vans, the costumes, and the 2 a.m. leg in the dark are worth saving.
Overheard
“Hybrid Racing is no longer just a global fitness movement, it is officially on the road to the Olympics.”
HYROX co-founder and CEO Christian Toetzke, after World Triathlon made “Hybrid Racing” a recognized discipline, with HYROX as exclusive operator of its championships and Brisbane 2032 as the target (Athletech News).
Not everyone in triathlon is cheering. British triathlete Max Stapley called the deal “crap” and questioned whether HYROX is even a sport: “I don’t know if you can call it a sport, an activity that was invented less than 10 years ago.” Olympic champion Alex Yee polled his 227,000 followers, and most were against it (Yahoo Sports). (Funny, I’ve used that “activity, not a sport” line myself on pickleball.)
I’m on the fence, and I said so this week in I Like World Triathlon’s Direction. HYROX Still Needs a Business Case.
The support: HYROX drew 50,000 athletes across two weekends in New York, and reportedly, its fastest-growing group is 40-plus. That’s real participation, not hype, and World Triathlon is working with private operators to grow the tent. Stapley’s real fear is funding and Olympic slots, and that’s a fair fight.
The skepticism: “on the road to the Olympics” is doing a lot of work (ask squash how long that road was). Relying on the rings every four years and an elite pathway isn’t the same as a repeat-participation business, and a federation handing one private company exclusive control of its championships is fine print I want to read.
My simple test: does this deal still make commercial sense if hybrid racing never gets to Brisbane? If yes, great. If the answer depends on the Olympic rings, you're doomed, and I’m ready for the press release.
Build Accordingly.
Bouker Pool · Managing Partner, Weck Enterprises · Reply to this email or DM me on LinkedIn.
Got a tip, a fumble, or a build worth covering? Send it. Overheard exists for you.
Full disclosure: I advise and invest across sports-tech, media, youth sports, endurance, and wearables. When B&P covers a company I’m involved with, I’ll do my best to note it in the item.