They start at the bottom of a ski area in the Pocono Mtns of Pa. And run up and down the mtn going from one obstacle to the next.
My son did the "sprint" for the first time- 4.7 miles. It took him over 2 hrs. He said several of the guys he raced with Sunday morning were doing the Sprint AFTER doing the "Super"(9+ miles) the day before. What kind of CRAZY people do this?????????!!!!!!!!!
I have been in Gyms all my life and go to Track Meets and Swim meets and I can tell you I have never seen so many freakishly fit individuals in one place at one time...............................EVER! (and when I say "freak" I am using that in the most positive sense of the word! ;-)
My son and I completed the Spartan Trifecta last year, ending with the "beast" on Killington ski area, we climbed to three different peaks across16 miles and 55 obstacles.
Got my butt kicked good that day, but had a blast!
Differences from tough mudder:
- Spartan is technically a race, you are timed. There's money at stake in the elite class.
- Fail an obstacle, and you will, 30 burpee penalty. You can't bypass or skip anything in a Spartan
- No electricity, but heavy carries. Atlas carry for example goes like this: Pick up a round cement rock, it weighs 120 lbs for men. Carry it about 25 feet and drop it. Do 5 burpees, pick it back up and carry it back.
I've never done tough mudder but have friends who have, they like Spartans better because they are different lengths.
- Sprint is 3-5 miles - Super is 6-8 miles - Beast is 13-15 miles
Over the last year they seem to be stretching some of the courses though!
Midwest- my son said he made it all the way to the top of the rope climb but his grip slipped as he was reaching for the bell. He slid back down the rope and took a good amount of skin off his hands. Then had to do burpees in the dirt! :(
After the start, I rode the ski lift to the top and hiked over to where the javelin throw was. Then hiked a third of the way down to catch them at a crossover between obstacles. After he came thru, I hiked/ran back up to the ski lift to get back down to see the log carry. I was done after that! One of the course workers saw me running with my hydration pack and must have thought I was competing. I just laughed and said I can barely keep up as a spectator, let alone try to DO the thing! Maybe 25 years ago..................MAYBE! ;-)
I've done two tough mudders. Spartans sound much harder.
I did the tough mudder in about 2 1/2 hours. But it was ~12 miles. Taking that much time to do 4 miles tells me that the Spartan must be harder.
And the Tough Mudder certainly had a lot of really fit folks. But it also had sorta chubby, sorta old folks (like me...)
At 52 years of age I will bring a comfy chair a pizza and a cooler of beer and watch. All the while sitting there convincing my self I could do that.....30 years ago.
Brian- my son wants to do it again next year. You bring the beer, I'll bring the pizza and we'll sit there and cheer him on! ;-)
Les, The scenery wasn't too bad, either! lol....they are all a blast to hang with.
I am actually in very good shape for 52. I went to a tough mudder to watch my 5 year younger brother participate last year. I took pictures and laughed a lot as he is overweight out of shape and trying to impress his teenage sons. Could I do it????? Probably. Do I need to do it???? Refer to my original post. Lol.
But I probably wont do another at that.
Also, I will not do the electricity at the end. I had bad experiences both previous times.
I noticed the same thing about the price. I had a little sticker shock when I first looked at these. Then again, we pay $125 a person for our 24 hour mountain bike entries.
After seeing Nick's picture, I now understand why Dave likes doing them so much. :^)
God Bless men
=D
Awesome job guys!
I'm just glad my son picked early Sunday morning to do it. By noon the place was getting crazy with thousands of people wandering around. Big crowds are not fun for me, so we got out of there just in time.
But did enjoy the 'people watching" early morning before the race. There were some real "characters" walking around and some pretty funny outfits ;-) Several guys could have been in the World Beard Championships and one guy was dressed up as BOZO the clown! Not to mention all the folks who looked like they were running in their underwear! : )