2014 Arizona Spartan Sprint Part II

As mentioned in my previous post, my recap of the Arizona Hurricane Heat resulted in a rather long post so I decided to create a separate entry for the Sprint.

After Completing the Hurricane Heat at 9:40 AM, I had roughly 20 minutes to get changed, refuel, hydrate, and stretch before my open heat.  While most Hurricane Heat competitors planned on running the Sprint on Sunday, I didn't realize the extent of how hard a HH is and signed up for an open heat at 10:00 since I knew I wouldn't make the 8:30 Elite heat in time.  Probably not my brightest idea, but I went to Arizona to challenge myself like I never had before at a Spartan event and got just that.

The event was held at the Fort McDowell Rodeo Grounds and I was skeptical going in as to how they would be able to create a challenging course given the venue.  Boy was I mistaken, and the Spartan Race build team and crew did a great job utilizing the stadium seating and desert terrain.

According to the race director the race was approximately 4.9 miles and had close to 20 obstacles in all.  As this was my first race of 2014 there were a few surprises in the form of new obstacles and redesigned obstacles seen in every race last year.

Some of the notable changes were the height of the barb wire crawl.  It was lowered and made for a few more scratches, cuts, and tears in clothing.  Personally I like the lower barb wire other than the fact that during the open heats, there was a bigger log jam of bodies trying to navigate the course more so than normal.

Two more additional tweaks were the Atlas carry which is now a round stone instead of the cement cylinder as before which made it more challenging.  The cement block for the Herculean Hoist was replaced with a bag of rocks and sand which seemed heavier, but the weight was distributed better and was a good change in my opinion.

Now to the new obstacles.  They added an inverted wall climb which was comprised of 2x6x12 boards.  It was a fun new obstacle that wasn't necessarily too challenging, but added a nice change from the usual walls.  Another new obstacle was the 12' wall pictured below.

The New 12' Wall with climbing rope

This is a picture of our Hurricane Heat Group trying it out before everyone else and personally I really liked it.  The space in between the blocks and the blocks themselves provided great traction.  The secret to the obstacle is to stay as close to the wall as possible and not lean back too far.  The only problem I saw with the setup was on the other side of the wall was about a 6' drop into hay and could be a problem for a number of people.

The last new obstacle was a rolling mud pit at the end and just before the gladiator pit.  Instead of being the usual rolling mud pit, they added about a 10' incomplete wall which made participants quickly drop under the wall in the water and come out the other side.

Dunk Zone

While it gives you slight pause immersing your head in cold and dirty water and going under a wall, all in all it wasn't a difficult obstacle to complete.  

Fire Zone

Gladiator Pit

The 3 Utah Spartans after the Race

Arizona put on a great Spartan Sprint and I will definitely have to return next year to see what they have to offer.  Even after a 4+ hour Hurricane Heat and then only a 20 minute break before my Sprint Heat I still finished 68th overall for the 2 day event.  

Below is the official video with a few surprise celebrities who competed in the race along side us.  

If you are on the fence about signing up for a Spartan Race just do it.  It is an amazing adventure and in my opinion there is no better way to challenge yourself and find out what you are made of than competing in a Spartan Race.  For more information or if you have any questions feel free to email me at:  utahspartanrace@gmail.com.  I always have codes for great discounts for every race Spartan Race offers so what do you have to lose?  

Aroo!!!