Industry Shorts: Spartan, Laduma, Uci
Extreme wellness and endurance brand Spartan has launched its newest series of races, aimed at revolutionising corporate entertainment and improving employee wellness within UK and Ireland workplaces.
The brand has highlighted a report from the Centre for Mental Health, which found that only 26% of UK businesses have a wellbeing programme in place, compared to an average of 42% in the rest of the world. It also claims mental ill-health at work costs UK businesses over £30 billion and is the cause of 12.5 million workdays lost as a result of work-related stress.
To combat this, Spartan says it has launched its biggest corporate platform to date, offering two corporate packages for teams of five or more who can now race in four locations across the country: Wales, Ireland, Yorkshire and London’s Twickenham Stadium. Each race is over 5km and contains 25 obstacles for each competitor to overcome. READ MORE
Ben Smith, CEO, virtual reality brand Laduma, has stepped down from the position as he prepares to take on new role in company.
Smith, who co-founded the company in 2015, spent more than four years as CEO, and has now accepted a more wide-ranging role as President of the group which oversees Laduma, along with seven other businesses across the world.
The UCI has partnered with World E-Bike Series Management (WES) to launch the first UCI E-Mountain Bike Cross-country World Cup.
The new competition will comprise five rounds, and will kick off on 6th and 7th March in Monaco, finishing seven months later in Barcelona in October.
The UCI’s International Calendar already includes a series of E-Mountain Bike events, with some high-profile mountain bike cross-country athletes taking part. The governing body says that advances in technology, which have produced electrically-assisted mountain bikes with speed assistance up to 25 km/h, is opening up the sport to new audiences.
Former SVP, Global Head of Marketing, Tata Communications, Mehul Kapadia, has joined Motorsport Network as COO.
Kapadia, who managed Tata’s global partnership relationship with Formula 1 – and added the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 and Williams F1 teams and multiple TV broadcasters, including Sky Sports F1 and Ziggo to the portfolio – will work across Motorsport Network in operational and strategic roles, across technology, media, product management, sales and marketing.
British Weight Lifting has announced a new partnership with ONE PRO Nutrition, which will supply Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls with a range of supplements and nutritional in the build-up to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
The brand, which was founded by former cricketer Matt Prior, has also launched a new Ambassador Programme, as it looks to recruit new ambassadors to join the brand in 2020.
The programme is open for entries until 1st March 2020, and successful applicants will receive a host of unique opportunities including event invites, product exclusives and support with a product allowance specific to their needs.
Formula E outfit Envision Virgin Racing has chosen leading female British racing driver Alice Powell as one of its two rookie drivers to take part in the only in-season test of the current Formula E season.
The Oxford-born racer will get her first taste of the all-electric Formula E car following the Marrakesh E-Prix.
