Spartan Race obstacle races, mud run, and OCR information, distance, cost, dates, calendar, discounts, obstacles, reviews, and more

Fun but needs improvement

Ran this race with my 6 year old. He loved it but it was lacking obstacles such as mud, monkey bars and a proper carry. The rocks easily ripped thru the cheap bags for the kids carry. The finisher shirt and medal was the same as the other Spartan Kids Races. They should have been different for the first ever kids based race. Hopefully next year it will be even better. Aroo!

Way too much fun!

Tried this race instead of running 1/2 marathon and I must say this was waaaay more fun and challenging! We had a team of ages ranging from 22 to 58 years old and it was great to be able to work as a team and complete the obstacles! It was a great venue, from the horses running with us at the start of race, to weavying through the beautiful vegitation to finishing through the fire! Want to go again to this event!

Great combo of everything. Deep muddy water,rivers hills rock.everything. best super yet.got a feeling this could be close to a beast.

Barbed Wire?

Great race but what happened to the barbed wire crawl up that hill? seriously, it was great to be back in the Pacific Northwest. One of the most beautiful venues, easy access/parking, great festival area and a well laid out race. Almost couldn't have asked for more.

Great Venue, poor plan

9 a.m. start time. Venue was great, but the course jammed up about 1 mile in and stood or walked in lines for the majority of the next 4 miles. Uphill for about 5-6 miles then the last few miles were down gravel roads. I think if they had done this backwards it would have been great. It would have given room for people to spread out.

I will do it again next year if they have it, I heard even the Elitist heat jammed up so hopefully the do something to spread people out.

Get in shape, the hills will kill you.

Pricey! Ok first the bad. More water stops needed on this course in 88 degree weather. Seems like they were short volunteers, and "showers" could be improved a bit ( garden hoses laying on the ground).

The Good! Damn good challenge! Frankly the challenge and rest of the fun and course far, far out weigh the negatives. I mean really, if you are going to do these kinds of tough runs, then then things I mention above really just whiney comments.

best Spartan so far

We loved almost everything about this Spartan Super. The terrain was insane with hills, hills and more hills. The barbed wire crawl was about 40 ft of uphill. The weather was in the 70's and was so nice and cool. The bucket carry and the sandbag carry were also crazy going up the mountain and they threw in some switchbacks to make it even more challenging. The only downside of this race was that some of the trail was very narrow making it very hard to pass up the walkers. The stairway to Sparta was appropriately named. And they had water stations everywhere as well as blocks to help refuel during the way. The town of Monterrey was also so accommodating. They seem to love Spartans as everywhere we went people would ask "how was the race". We would come back to this location again next year!

Aweful experence

Truly the worst run event I have paid to attend. It started with over an HOUR wait to park. The event blamed this on the Army base but the line to actually enter the parking lot was EVERY bit as long as the entry to the base. Half way through the run there was a thunderstorm which halted the race, I have no problem with halting the race for safety, however the organization of the event at this point was truly pitiful, at this point you find out that the entire race is run by volunteers who are told nothing and simply shrug their shoulders and state that they know nothing, because they truly do know nothing, are told nothing and really had no desire to find out. The only part worse was when an actual employee of the race came back and would not answer any questions but rather became upset and would only yell at everyone to turn around and leave the course over and over, not a single answer, no explanation as to when/if the race would restart, nothing..... after the race the exit took another 45 minutes with out a single spartan race person to direct traffic. I have been to many mud runs and road races, I have never been made to feel like less of a customer or experienced more ineptitude than shown by the entire spartan team. If you are considering doing a spartan race please look for a better run option than Spartan races, there are MANY of them out there who will treat you like a human being, not simply another wallet.

Spartan sprint Cumberland Ohio

Spartan Sprint in Cumberland Ohio review
This event also held a super & beast race as well. I'm only going to talk about the sprint portion.
This was my first spartan race so view my observations through that lens.
19th obstacle
The race listed 18 obstacles but the 19th obstacle was brutal and that was the weather. It was upper 30's with 20 mph winds and SNOWED the hour before my start. With a half inch of rain the night before the staff didn't need to hose anything down.

Race.
The first mile was actually downhill (go figure) with simple under, over, under obstacles and 3 water pits to get our legs numb. The remaining part of the mile consisted of slipping, sliding mud trails. One kid was speed skating/sliding a section. Everyone was in a good mood and chatting as they slipped along.

At the end of the mile, the super &beast people went straight while we went left and started uphill. We would meet them later at the last mile for some killer signature strength obstacles.

The spartan spirit shined at about mile 1.5 where some were "resting" on the cargo net wall holding the net down to about 4 feet with their body weight. As a new group went over they left & the new group "rested". A guy said "what do I owe you?" We said pay it forward & left.

More uphill mud running then sand bag carry down a single lane narrow trail. I held onto a few tree branches on the really slick parts then back up the hill to drop off. Down a hill & mile 2 done. WATER STATION.

Tire flip obstacles then a slick 9 foot wall with uneven trail running up toward the festival area. Hearing the noise & music gave us a boost just in time for the inverted 10 foot wall & 90 lb Hercules hoist.

Now about a mile of running to finish up mile four. Feeling good, feeling sweaty actually. Super & beast people join up so it's sometimes crowded. No one is chipper, chatting like they were in the beginning.

Last mile
This was obstacle dense & near the festival. I failed 3 of the 6 obstacles here. The horizontal traverse wall was so slippery that I bailed half way. Did my burpees & was dizzy but I had recovery time while I waited in line to do the spear throw. They had 8 spears on strings. Success ratio seemed to be about 10%. I have to say thank you for the "survive your first spartan race" e-book because I nailed my throw. Pick your target & aim 1 foot higher as the book says. The last 100 yards consisted of going under a submerged wall then climbing 10 foot wall with a rope. Lots of people helping each other since we were shivering & inspired to finish. Lots of fans cheering us on. Then the dreaded rope climb loomed. My arms were jelly & my legs numb so I made it to the first knot & then dropped. Burpees then 2 more water pits with duffle bags in the way. End in sight. Jump the fire. It was knee high. Doesn't seem that high on TV.
Finished, got my medal & banana. And now the sun comes out? Figures.

Festival area only had 1 food vendor. I couldn't get to the merch tent because everyone was hiding from the wind, rain, snow under them. Plenty of port a potties & 3 fire pits burning to try to warm people up.

The showers felt warm compared to the water pits in the field & changing tents were available.

I enjoyed my race & I will train this winter to be ready for next spring where I hope to do the trifecta by completing the super & beast races.

Va, VT, Utah, SOCAL, PLEASE..

If you think VA, VT, and other courses are too tough, you miss the point of Spartan to begin with. Go run the pansy warrior dash series. I have personally run VA, VT, Monterey, Utah, Socal and many other courses. The fact Utah, and Socal are mentioned in the article is odd to me. Monterrey in my opinion is the 2nd toughest beast after VT. Spartan markets the world championship and the other events, such as VA, as VERY Difficult and challenging. There are those of us that like a challenge. The "tough" courses are some of the best. Spartan has stadium races and events at less challenging venues for those that desire less challenge. Raising the bar in the tough venues is why Spartan is Spartan. If everyone could do it, why do it? Warrior dash and participation medals for showing up, has there followers, as does the Spartan tough races and requirement to finish.