Founded by adventure racer
Joe DeSena in 2007, the Spartan Race has grown to become the world standard for
endurance and strength races. A total of 240 races are now being held in 25
countries every year including the Philippines. The first leg of the 2019 Spartan Race Southeast Asia Regional series held in Lima Technology Center in Batangas on May 3-4, 2019 attracted more than 4,000 participants.
Obstacle
courses such as Tyrolean traverse, barbed wire crawl, rope climb, twister,
inverted wall and more are specifically designed to make racers go through
various elements of challenges and wills them to step out
of their physical fitness comfort zone.
Spartan
Races to Join
The Spartan Race offer
three core races varying in distance, number of obstacles and intensity. The Spartan Sprint typically covers a 5 km +
20 obstacle course, the Spartan Super
is pegged at around 13 km + 25 obstacle while the Spartan Beast runs a length of 20 km + 30 obstacle race path. An added
race in the Lima leg called the Hurricane 12 or HH12, is a bootcamp-style team challenge that started the night before and lasted 12 hours
until the next morning.
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| A lady participant tries to complete the Rope Climb Obstacle |
Participants of the Lima
Park leg competed in three races: Sprint, Beast and Hurricane. Each races have
their own categories namely: Elite, Age Group and the Open.
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| One of the more difficult obstacles: the Multi Rig |
The more competitive
racers participate in the Elite Category. This is where the strongest athletes
race against each other. Podium finishers are awarded with cash prizes and
plaques. The Age Group is equally competitive but athletes here competes in
their own age group. Top finishers in either the Elite or the Age Group can
qualify for the Spartan Race APAC Championship to compete with top athletes
from Asia and Australia.
To earn a prestigious
Spartan Trifecta Medal, one has to finish all Spartan races: Sprint, Super and
Beast or an Ultra (40 km + 60 obstacle) in one calendar year.
Unleashing
one’s Spartan Spirit
Cai Abbass started
competing in June 2018 and has since placed 6th in the Southeast Asia Regional
Series 2018 and 5th in the Beast Elite category in APAC 2018. This year alone,
she has completed more than 50 kilometers spread across five Spartan Race
events and qualified for the Spartan Race APAC Championship to be held in China
on August 2019.
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| Cai Abbass in action during the Spartan Race in Lima Park |
“Competition this year has gotten really tough as more and more athletes
are competing in the Elite categories. Some athletes who have competed in Age
Group last year have moved to the Elite category and they have been dominating.
It would take so much grit, power, speed and athleticism to really come out on
the top. This competition is very exciting and it pushes everyone to be better
at the sport.” Abbass said.
For Samantha Soto, unleashing
her Spartan Spirit at the age of 40 was no means a walk in the park. It was
through hard-work and dedication that she finally succeeded in earning her
first Spartan Trifecta medal in Batangas.
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| Sam Soto shows her first Spartan Trifecta Medals |
“At
age 40 with no athletic background, it’s easy to write off your body as “past
its peak”. But since I’ve signed to my first Spartan race 6 months ago, I’ve
never been this fit and strong before. I lost a ton of weight, I can totally
outdo my 20yr old self in the gym. Doing
OCR taught me it’s never TOO OLD to reinvent myself, evolve and continuously
set and smash new goals. I
just ran Spartan beast – 21km + 30+ obstacles in Batangas to complete my first
trifecta, something I never thought I could” Soto said proudly.
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| The Barbed Wire Crawl |
While one—especially beginners
can skip an obstacle, the Spartan Race
enforces a strict rule stating “Athletes who fail
to complete an obstacle must complete 30 burpees as a penalty before continuing”.
Therefore it becomes an added motivation for every Spartan racer to finish the
race without having to perform a burpee penalty.
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| The Inverted Wall Obstacle |
For most Spartan Racers
like Sam and Cai, reaching the finish line isn’t just the primary goal because
completing all the obstacle courses makes finishing the Spartan Race sweeter. “There were a lot of heavy lifting through
long distances, like Jerry-Can, which zaps a lot of energy. Obstacles that I
thought I prepared for, like Olympus and Multi-Rig, was a lot harder on the day
because they were slippery and well, I was exhausted. But this is the appeal
and challenge of Spartan races is that it’s unpredictable, and you just keep
believing that you have trained enough, and your muscles and mind can endure
all the obstacles and mileage” Soto adds.
The 2019 Spartan Race
Southeast Asia regional series will continue its 2nd leg in Ipoh Malaysia on
July 20 and the final leg in Bukit Timah, Singapore on August 3.
Special
thanks to one of the official partners of Spartan Race, Lima Park Hotel for accommodating
members of the media who covered the 2019 Spartan Race Regional Finals.
