Running the business: The story behind Anthony Balatti and The 25th Hour

For former sales exec Anthony Balatti, operating a run club has gone from a hobby to a growing business, with sponsors such as Saucony and Red Bull. In 2023, Balatti became interested in endurance sports and, with limited prior experience, competed in his first triathlon in June 2023. He loved the experience, but took a […]

For former sales exec Anthony Balatti, operating a run club has gone from a hobby to a growing business, with sponsors such as Saucony and Red Bull. In 2023, Balatti became interested in endurance sports and, with limited prior experience, competed in his first triathlon in June 2023. He loved the experience, but took a particular shine to endurance running. At the same time, run clubs were becoming increasingly popular, so he decided to join one to encourage himself to keep running and to find like-minded people.  But he came away disappointed. “I showed up by myself and no one talked to me. You know how it can be sometimes when you’re the new one. I came away thinking I could have just done that by myself,” he told OBJ. That experience is what pushed him to create The 25th Hour, a run club focused on building a community of athletes striving for big goals, in March 2024. 

Each run club meeting has four pace groups for those running five to six-and-a-half minutes per kilometre, and a run/walk group.  The run club’s tagline is “built to endure,” and Balatti said it’s the ethos at the heart of the club.  “The 25th Hour was the name that really stuck with me. Through endurance sports, I started to learn so much about myself and unlock a version of myself that I wanted to be.  “Imagine if you had an extra hour in the day. It’s about spending that extra time to become the person you feel you are and pushing through when it gets tough. It’s one of those things you discover. Maybe you don’t have the discipline or the grit to continue to push through when things get tough, but you develop that. It’s a mental thing and it translates over to real life. For success in anything, you need to be consistent and show up,” he explained.  It started with a free weekly run club on Thursdays. The first one had three runners: Balatti and two friends. But, over time, Balatti was able to grow the club to nearly 100 runners.  At that point, The 25th Hour was a side project as Balatti pursued a career in sales after spending six years as a YouTube creator. He ran no paid advertising and grew the club organically through social media and word of mouth. But, given that the project was proving popular with members, he thought of ways to make it into a legitimate business venture.  As the weekly runs grew in size, Balatti decided to do a limited edition merchandise line with items such as hoodies and t-shirts. When the first batch sold out in no time, Balatti said that was his first sign that he had something valuable.  “The way I see our clothing is more of an artifact of belonging. It stands for the ecosystem or the world you’re building … Clothing is difficult to do and it comes at a lower margin. There’s tons of stock that you could sit on, so how do you turn that into a successful business?” While it was a valuable revenue stream, Balatti knew he couldn’t put all his eggs in the apparel basket, so he looked for a main revenue driver. “I thought, ‘We do really good events, so let’s try doing a race.’” In August 2025, he hosted the first “PR Night” race, where runners would try to set a personal record by running their fastest 5K. It counted about 150 runners. Earlier this month, he hosted his second “PR night,” with about 200 runners.  The business is bootstrapped, Balatti said, but sponsorships and partnerships with local and national brands have helped along the way.  “I started with the clothing order, then it would sell and I’d reinvest that (profit) into more. When we look at events, you can partner up with another business in Ottawa and split costs. Maybe they’re able to provide the location for free and gain a ton of exposure in exchange,” he said. He said that his background in sales was instrumental to building the run club into a business.  “Sales is one of the best skills you can have,” Balatti said. “Sales psychology is a real thing. Having people in at the base level with free community runs — how do you make that the best experience? It’s introducing yourself, talking to them right away and remembering their name … Those little extra things go so far. I think that is a way that I’ve sold people on the run club, even though it’s free. “They align themselves with the brand, the messaging and the meaning behind it. It’s all about the culture you curate.” His sales experience has helped him negotiate brand deals with big sponsors, such as Saucony, but he will only partner with brands that he feels aligns with The 25th Hour. “I’m very selective with who I work with. It has to be something that I believe in. If you’re always authentic, people will see that and resonate with it,” he said.  He’s seen good success in partnering with larger brands, especially those that understand the power of placing their products in front of the crowds he amasses at his weekly runs.  “Let’s take a large company, Red Bull, for example. I have 100 people that are going to come out every single Thursday. That’s 100 people that try their new (energy drink) flavour. That goes for a lot in the marketing world. So you can charge a pretty decent amount to these companies, especially when they have large marketing spend. One hundred people with your product in hand will convert and is worth more than just putting an ad out,” he explained. In February, Balatti left his career in sales to pursue The 25th Hour full-time. Reflecting on how much he’s been able to build while pursuing this as a side project, Balatti said he decided to see how much he could scale the business if he dedicated his full attention to it.  While his events currently run with the help of volunteers, Balatti has recently hired a videographer to capture footage of his events and improve his online presence, but he’s also leveraging AI to help with marketing.  Looking ahead, he plans to grow the business by hosting races in other Canadian cities and building relationships with more partners.  “I would definitely like to grow beyond Ottawa,” Balatti said. “I think multiple cities having races and potentially expanding run club to other cities as well … I think that would be really cool but, if I’m not there to run it, who knows if it’ll operate at the same magnitude? I would have to find the right people for it.” He would like to expand his event roster beyond the summer “PR night” race, hoping to have eight races in 2027.  When it comes to partnerships, Balatti said he’s happy to have partnered with the likes of Saucony, Lululemon and Red Bull, but he said he’s looking to broaden the kinds of brands the club partners with, such as financial institutions or local tech companies. “We have a lot of ambitious young people, between 24 and 34. That’s a great demographic of young professionals that are serious about their running and most likely serious about their life and financial goals. On the tech side, I love how that industry is moving. It’d be cool to introduce that kind of sponsor to the run club,” he said. Balatti may also explore expanding the reach of his apparel distribution, such as throughout Canada and possibly the U.S. All in all, the experience has taught him that success is the result of consistent effort, whether it’s on the pavement or balance sheets.  “I think a lot of people have these sorts of ideas and sit on them for the longest time. The worst thing is seeing somebody do something that was your idea. If I were to talk to myself from two-and-a-half years ago, I’d say continue showing up. “There will be periods of slow growth, then something big will happen. Every time a wave comes, you just have to ride it … Believe in what you’re building and if you show up authentically, people will support it.”