Aug. 27—After a year on the sidelines, Spartan Race makes its return to southern West Virginia this weekend.
The West Virginia Spartan Trifecta Weekend will be staged at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 28-29.
Steve Hammond, course manager for Spartan, said Thursday that some 10,000 competitors will go through their paces on various obstacle courses during the weekend. Feature races include the Spartan Beast, the Spartan Super and the Spartan Sprint. There are also races of 800-meters to 3.2k in length for children ages 4-14 on both days, as well as a 10k trail run at sunset on Saturday.
Following a brief look at each:
—The Spartan Beast is a championship race that covers the half-marathon distance (13.1 miles). It features 30 obstacles.
“This is the fourth race in the US National Series, which is hotly contested with some of the fittest guys on the planet,” said Hammond, who has helped design and create the course for each Spartan Race held at the Summit Bechtel Reserve. The USNS has “always been a fan favorite.”
US National Series prize money is involved.
Elite men and women depart the starting chute at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. The elite competition will be followed by age group racing, with waves of 250 or more competitors leaving the start line every 15 minutes.
“We change it up from year to year,” Hammond said of the course. “This is slightly different from 2019.
“We added a few other little surprises in there.”
—The Spartan Super is a 10k (6.2 miles) race featuring 25 obstacles.
Elite runners start at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29.
—The Spartan Sprint is a 5k (3.1 miles), 20-obstacle event.
Elite racers begin at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Hammond says a core staff of from 15 to 20 people has been onsite setting up the course, and the staff could swell to 80 in order to pull off the big task this weekend.
The races will have some Covid-19 mitigations in place, he said. For example, all staff will wear masks. “There’s definitely a few limitations,” he said. “We’ll let less people go out on the course at one time.
“We’ve downsized a little bit, but we’ll still get everyone through the course.”
And, spectators can expect a treat, he said. “We’re going to see some very hot competition coming in here with the men and women battling it out on Saturday morning.”
For more, visit https://race.spartan.com/en/race/detail/7271/overview.
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