Photo Courtesy of Spartan
Given what happened to Ryan Woods in the first Spartan Championship Series race in Jacksonville, I think it’s high time someone addressed the elephant in the room. Oh…I am not talking about A-Frame-gate aka #InWoodsWeTruss, nor about Spartan’s fluid rulebook. No, this is about Woods getting shredded when he got tangled up in the barbed wire crawl and then donated a pint of blood as he made his way through the rest of the course. I think it may be time to call out the barbs.
Challenging or Sadistic?
Photo Courtesy of Spartan
First: Can we agree that having any significant downhill in the barbed wire crawl is either a bit ignorant or sadistic? Anyone who has rolled down hills at any speed knows that it’s very easy to lose control of your limbs. Acceleration will make your arms and legs fly out from your body, which is likely what happened to Woodsy. Either that or he hit a bump and got launched into the air. All it takes is a couple of inches and suddenly you’re fillet-o-racer. That’s a big fat nay-nay, Spartan.
Let me say this: Removing the barbs will not substantially change the challenge of the obstacle nor make it appreciably easier. I thought I’d get started on this early and repeat it often, as the most common hue and cry from people who like to bleed is that any change in the direction of safety and sanity will make the obstacle easier. IT WON’T.
Barbed wire is heavy gauge wire strung taut between metal posts hammered deeply into the ground. It’s also braided, so it’s actually at least two strands of stiff wire. The point is that it’s not like stringing, well, string between the posts and telling racers to go under it. Unlike with string, or even rope, racers cannot simply push their way through this. They still need to move forward below the level of the wire, which is the whole point of the obstacle.
Removing the Barbs Won't Make it Easier
Photo Courtesy of Spartan
I will grant that the barbs add an element of enforced caution to the crawl. Anyone crawling a bit too tall or rolling a bit too enthusiastically will get stabbed and cut. Best case scenario you get your pricey top or compression tights snagged and torn. If you have long flowing locks or a man-bun, you could easily snarl your hair with the barbs, as happened to defending series champ Lindsay Webster at a race last year. However, the most likely outcome is that you wind up cut and bleeding. Now that most races have done away with the potentially fatal sternum-checker, the barbed wire crawl remains the only obstacle that is deliberately designed to hurt or injure the racer.
BoneFrog is a full-on military-themed race, and as far as I know, even they don’t use barbed wire. If that’s tough enough for them, then it’s tough enough for everyone.
Raise your hands if you are fine with making your way through a muddy swampy course with open gashes on your body. How about going through all those water obstacles that thousands of racers have already been through? The chances of potentially serious infection are very, very real.
Safety First
Yeah, yeah, I know: people get cut up on other stuff too. Heck, you could take a tumble and split your knee on a rock. Absolutely and so what? Those the hazards of racing. The barbed wire gashes are by design, courtesy of the race director. Big difference I think, although Amelia Boone would know much better. #lawyered
Does everyone remember that time Rose Wetzel sprinted full-tilt in the barbed wire crawl and did a supergirl face-first sprawl across the wires? It could easily have been much, much worse. Its all fun and games until Wetzel loses an eye.
Finally, and most importantly, I have two words for y’all: Greg Louganis.
To save you a Google: he is a multiple World Championship and Olympics gold medalist in diving for the USA who hit his head during the springboard competition in Los Angeles. He split his scalp, and we all know how those things bleed. Anyone watching the live broadcast may have been surprised by his emotional reaction after the competition. The reason for that came out later: he was HIV positive at the time.
Ever since then there have been “blood rules” in most major sports.
Anyone getting snagged on those barbs after the lead elite men went through may as well have had unprotected sex with Woods as far as transmission of diseases through bodily fluids is concerned. But wait: there’s more! Ryan also had his hand/fingers sliced open and so was leaving a blood trail on all the grip obstacles: monkey bars, beater, rig, twister, spear, etc. Did any of you come out of Jacksonville with cuts on your hands?
In the meantime, here is some silver lining for everyone. Spartan can now have contests to decide on how to best use their miles and miles of soon to be retired barbed wire. Think outside the box! Off the top of my head here…
- maybe wrap all the A-Frame trusses in barbed wire
- implement a “roll of barbed wire carry” as the penalty for anyone kicking a bell
Have fun with it!
Being in healthcare, all of the points you raise about the risks of infectious injury from this obstacle is completely true. While it may be low, it is most certainly there. As well as eye injury, and other large artery/veins that are close to the surface of the skin.
Bare wire would indeed be a safer alternative that keeps the same level of difficulty.
Lot’s of thoughts on this. First and foremost, most is not all diseases will die off in blood after a very short time. I also don’t see too many people licking their fingers after going through the monkey bars or rings so the blood on the course is really not a big deal.
Here’s a better idea. If you get cut on your hands on the course, you need to step off the course until it can be covered with tape or some sort of bandage. Don’t ruin it for everyone else. This should most certainly apply to the elite racers. If you choose to go full tilt and rush through the barbed wire and get snagged, that is on you. Barbed wire crawls are not designed to hurt people It was designed so military personnel keep their bodies and head close to the ground and to stay low. Why? So they don’t get shot in battle.
Let’s not sugar coat these races. What next? Hand out lollipops to everyone who finishes an obstacle? How about we case out the woods to make sure there is no poison ivy before we can race?
At the end of the day, the injuries sustained in OCR races pale in comparison to most major contact sports. In fact, it’s not even close. These races are supposed to get people off the couch, set goals and to toughen up. Let’s not start making things easier every time someone gets some blood on them.
Daryl- The problem is if you seek medical assistance in elite or age group you are disqualified. Asking for a bandage for your bleeding hand while ignoring the time lost doing so you will be disqualified. So even if you want to be safe and cover it up you can’t.
what Julie said about being DQed for any medical
also, please don’t apply the slippery slope logical fallacy to this. it is very specifically about one aspect of one obstacle with good reasons for changes as international and olympic sports governing bodies will look at that and give it the big thumbs down.
Stay low! Keep the barbs! You can catch an infectious disease at a play ground too…we are adults and don’t need helicopter parents. Grow up
You don’t pay to go to said playgrounds and you don’t sign liability waivers. Playgrounds also don’t have Olympic aspirations.
Last I checked I am grown up, but thanks for your concern.
STFU! It’s an obstacle course race not a beauty pageant!
I get paid by the STFU I generate in the comment to this. Thank you for your contribution.
Where in this did I mention looks? Pretty random comment…
I for one have a scar across my face from barb wire that snagged me during an Atlanta Spartan Race. Nobody’s fault but my own…
How bout a first place trophy (medal) for everyone weather or not you finish. Just leave it alone before you ruin it for everyone else.
Quite on the fence over this, but my general impression is meh whatever. I 100% disagree with your opinion on the obstacle still being what it is without barbs. Any barb crawl I’d do in half time or less were there no barbs there. The reason I roll underneath is because it’s steady and I look up each rotation to see how low I need to roll and how far the next line is. Without barbs I’d just face down and give it hell pushing on my knees most of the time.
I’m neutral regarding the actual point of whether this obstacle is necessary, but I need to call you out regarding the change making no difference. It makes a difference.
For the past 2 years devoting my time with training, volunteering and racing Spartan races I’ve had to evaluate the risks involved with each course and venue as well as my athletic abilities. With that, the legalities of spartan race can always be questioned however as a racer we are signing a waiver of liability understanding full well the risks we all take participating in this sport. I’ve been fortunate to have relatively good weather at most of the races I’ve done, and yet plenty of times where I’ve had to question what the course director and trail master deemed as acceptable for majority of people participating. I’m sure we can all give our opinions on a race or two where we walked away feeling unsettled with the risks such as Big Bear Beast 2018 decent on what seemed to be a never ending triple black diamond ski slope where many people had some pretty serious leg injuries, or the slippery rigs from horrible weather elements at other races, and let’s not leave out how the ropes at rope climb appear as if they haven’t been replaced in ages. As an athlete that has ran elite heats and age group heats and an individual that started racing to go from obese to fit I feel Spartan needs to start listening to their participates concerns and take suggestions more seriously especially because most people are doing these races not only for their health but to enjoy the experience. It’s not enjoyable when you are taken to the hospital for torn rotator cuffs, broken ankles, torn acl, broken wrists/arms, lacerations that require stitches and months of healing and time away from training. If the pro athletes want to run that risk every weekend more power to them, most of us cannot afford months off of our normal responsibilities. With that said we as racers should all be accepting the risks involved and make a judgement call at every obstacle. Lose the ego or accept the pain cave, ultimately only you can decide, don’t expect Spartan race to make changes unless their legal team sees absolutely necessary. I’m sure a lot of money has been invested in risk analysis, would be nice if Spartan race could explain their procedures with implementing obstacles and course design.
While I understand the viewpoint, you could just as easily make rolling against the rules or argue that downhill barbwire crawls be banned. There was a good chunk of stuff on that Jacksonville course that posed extra risks – the tarp covering the slip wall (saw someone carried away on a stretcher there) or climbing a worn down rope after wading through swamp and slick mud come to mind. Come to think of it, every race I’ve done has had a “WTF was the course designer thinking” moment. I am not complaining – it is those inconsistencies from race to race that makes Spartan/OCR challenging and fun for me. It forces you to evaluate the environment and obstacle before tackling it – no matter how many times I have seen it. By making OCR safe, consistent and predictable enough to become an Olympic sport, it would likely become nothing more than a steeplechase on a groomed trail.
Keep the barbs.
I vote for electrified wire instead of the barbs.
As a almost 62 year female old age group competitor, who started Spartan Racing at age 60, I agree that there are many WTF moments for me, however I train very hard to prepare my body for Spartan racing. This is not a course for once a year weekend lets just try this racers and shouldn’t be. If you watch any of the Spartan race videos you should understand what you need to do to prepare for race day. I could step off a curb wrong and sprain my ankle. Understanding your own limitations and excepting that burpees might be in the cards (first race I did 150 of them, now I can do the monkey bars, bender and traverse by myself without failure, even on wet rainy days and have done downhill barb wire that is so low you can’t crawl under – think Palmerton) should be part of your going in mentality. Spartan racing is not for the faint at heart, it is designed for Elite athletes and very, very difficult for the rest of us. This is the high end of all OCRs and should remain as difficult as they can safely make it. If you think through each obstacle with your own limitations in mind you can get through them safely understanding that without proper training (ankle, hip, knee) can cause an injury.