Students Take On Spartan Adventure Race

On Sept. 22 and Sept. 23, participants of all ages lined up in Killington, Vt. to test their mettle in the Spartan Race, one of the world’s most physically demanding adventure races.

Adventure races, or expedition races, are an increasingly popular type of race in which participants run, jump, climb and swim their way past a variety of increasingly difficult obstacles. Spartan Races are a particularly high-octane type of adventure race that challenge participants with a grueling array of physical and psychological trials. These races can range in distance from only a few miles to many dozens of miles, and some can be completed in a few short hours while others may take days. Depending on the race, contestants take the field as individuals or as members of a team.  All Spartan Courses are different due to their distinct topography.

Participants at the Killington event registered for either the 13-mile “Spartan Beast,” which involved a single circuit of roughly 13 miles, or the inhuman “Spartan Ultra Beast Marathon,” the world’s first marathon-length adventure obstacle course which involved two complete circuits. The main Killington course was more than 13 miles in length and pitted participants against more than 14 obstacles, including inclined walls, mud trenches, barbed-wire crawls, cargo net climbs and numerous bodies of water.

“The hardest [obstacle] was the traverse,” said Chris Batson ’13, one 12 participants sponsored by the Middlebury Mountain Club to compete in the race. “It was a rope suspended over a really big pool of water and you have to shimmy, just using your arms and legs crossed over the rope.”

The race was designed to evoke a “Spartan” aesthetic, and a number of race officials monitored the obstacles to ensure that all participants completed the various challenges before moving on. The obstacles were designed to lend themselves to the Spartan motif, and they were largely adapted from military training techniques. Those who failed at a particular obstacle were required to complete 30 burpees, which involved quickly going from a standing position to a squatting position, a pushup position, and ultimately a jumping jack position.

“When you looked up the hill everyone was covered in mud, carrying sandbags up the hill,” said race participant Katie McFarren ’14. “It really did look a military training camp.”

The 13-mile course wound up and down the steep ski trails of Killington resort, taking racers up and down the mountain numerous times and exacting a serious physical toll on the participants.

“The biggest challenge for me — coming from Illinois where it’s flat — is that they make us go up and down the mountain four or five times,” said Max Hoffman ’14, an accomplished marathoner. “It was just vertical at points. It was harder than the marathon.”

Adding to the dizzying array of obstacles and the daunting series of steep ascents and descents, Spartan Race rules require that all participants complete the race unsupported, meaning that the racers must all provide their own sources of water and calories. Since the race takes most participants more than five hours, refueling is crucial to the successful completion of the race.

“You’re out there five hours, so you need something to keep you going,” said McFarren.

Athletes must strike a delicate balance when deciding how much food and water to bring with them; those who bring too little risk dehydration and fatigue while those who bring too much risk sluggishness and ruined provisions. The highly demanding physical obstacles also have a tendency to destroy certain types of snacks.

“I brought crackers which got pulverized when I was climbing under the barbed wire,” said McFarren. “Also, I brought fruit leather. I would recommend bringing waterproof snacks. The fruit leather was perfect.”

Despite the intensity of the racecourse, the atmosphere remained festive and the racers were all incredibly supportive of one another.

“I met a lot of cool people who were really interested in having a conversation and just chatting,” said McFarren. “It was cool because all of the strangers would help you up the walls if you needed help. It was a really friendly competition.”

Although Marc Andre Benard, the first person to finish the race, clocked in at 3:17:27, most participants took between five and eight hours to complete the race. According to Hoffman and McFarren, there were plenty of participants who were not in peak physical shape, and they seemed to enjoy the race just as much as the Olympic-caliber racers.

There were more than a thousand people in attendance, and there were plenty of sponsored tents and activities for children, including the Vermont High School Challenge and the Spartan Kids Race.

“It was a big production,” said Batson. “It was a big festival that had all of these food vendors, shoe vendors and beer companies in tents.”

Despite the many other diversions offered at the racecourse, the weekend revolved around the race. Contestants walked away with a T-shirt, varying degrees of bragging rights and sore calves, but most seemed eager to get back out as soon as their aching bodies would allow.

“Everyone that does it wants to do it again and again and again,” said McFarren. “I definitely want to do the one in the spring.”