As the twelfth hour approached, my heart raced as I frantically searched the haggard HH12HR crew for any trace of Kyoul. I reminded myself he's a Hot Shot firefighter, and has been dropped in the middle of far more life-threatening situations many times in his career. He's on the Spartan Race team and a strong elite racer for god's sake - where was he and what the hell happened?
From the moment Chris & I stepped out of my Jeep, we could tell the vibe was different. Folks waiting to get in were relaxed, the staff was pretty chill, security guards were smiling and helpful - heck, everyone was smiling and helpful. This was not the intense TM experience I expected - and I couldn't have been more pleased. After I signed in and grabbed my media badge I headed over to the Mudder Legion booth to grab a 2x wristband to ensure my access on the exclusive Legion Loop.
Starting this weekend at Reebok Spartan Race Super in Las Vegas, there will no longer be pugil stick-weilding guys or gals standing between you and the finish line waiting to beat you senseless... after already enduring 10 or so miles of suffering. Take a good look, old photos are the last time you'll see this:
“Watch out!” a Death Racer shouted as the snarling bull charged across the ring slamming a racer against the wall. He was pinned to the ground if only but for a moment, the dust began to settle. Blood dripped from the bulls nostrils, not from a racer but from ramming it’s own face into the wall just missing it’s target. All across the arena crimson red bibs lay scattered about waiting to be collected by their owner. Up till now, the Death Race was an abstract concept, each racer asking themselves if they possessed the mental and physical strength to survive anywhere from 36 to 72 hours of punishment at the hands of the co-founder of Spartan Race. Now, as they all stood inside a bullfighting ring in an undisclosed location in Mexico, it became real. Entirely too real. Death was more than just a possibility.
The Spartan Beast, known for its punishing hills, will be the stage for the elite competition heat where the athletes will race head to head through the early morning mist on Saturday, September 20th. Racers will tackle a gauntlet of challenging obstacles, including wall climbs, aerial traverses over water, challenging rope climbs, and barbed wire crawls.
A look at two different Spartan Race hurricane heats on both sides of the country.
Saturday morning we arrived at the venue and were met with a light fog and brisk temperatures. It was a toss-up between being cold enough to justify a shirt or not but I decided it ultimately wouldn’t be worth the added weight once caked in the red clay. I took the starting coral and anxiously awaited our cue to set off on the course.
"People may think I’m crazy, sadistic, relentless, maniacal, suicidal, all rolled into one, but they still seek me out, sensing somehow that there is a method to this madness. And that my tactics change lives, create opportunities, and yield results."
One of my favorite features is the “H20 drain”. The water almost instantly drains out after being fully submerged. Not only does the “H20 Drain” help drain the water out but the material of the shoe seems like it wicks out moisture. The tongue of the shoe will not hold any water due to the rubber material used.
The course had several new obstacles, one of which was the vertical wall with rope. This was fun and to us not as challenging as some others. The course was hilly, rocky and sandy, always an interesting combination.
