Spartan National Series – what next?
I have only ever participated in the 2018 and the 2019 National Series, so I can’t comment on previous years. The 2019 National Series was levels up from what I experienced in 2018. The 2018 series was held late in the year from September to November 2018 and included one Sprint (7km) and two Supers (14km). The venues were Sydney Western Parklands, Numinbah Valley in the Gold Coast Hinterlands, and Bright in the Victorian Alps. In 2018 there were often situations where obstacles were not manned by marshals or volunteers, and at the end of the series the presentations were conducted weeks afterwards when almost none of the elite athletes receiving awards were present. There was also some disputes about prize money. I was not surprised by this, as I have experienced similar prize money issues before. Overall, I was just happy that I was finally earning enough money at work to be able to afford to travel to each race (moving from Adelaide to the eastern states helped) and I was just grateful to be able to race all races in the series. I came 2nd, 2nd and 3rd which was enough to get me 2nd place in the 2018 Series.
In 2019, the National Series was held across March to May to align with other National and Regional Series being held around the world and to act as qualification for the Spartan World Championships and the Asia Pacific Championships. All race distances were represented, with one Sprint (6km), one Super (13km) and one Beast (20km).
Race 1 was a Sprint held in Tooradin, Victoria, on completely flat farmland during a heatwave. The course was dry, dusty, fast, and apart from the glare and some single trail on sand, minimal natural obstacles. I was very lucky to come first in this race when my spear throw stuck, as I am not usually strong in short distances.
Race 2 was a Super held at Maleny Dairies in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands. The course was 13.2km with approximately 505m of vertical gain. Being on a very hilly dairy farm, most of the race was on deep grass. I crossed the finish line 2nd but placed 4th after I received a time penalty for not completing enough burpees.
Race 3 was at Picton, just south of Sydney. 20.4km 790m vertical gain. Picton was hilly and grassy, similar to the Super, but the grass had been mown, and the ground was drier making the surface relatively fast. Picton had a lot more techy running than Queensland, with a long muddy creek run, steep off camber-descending, running on some rocky terrain, and descending single trail on slippery rocks and eucalypt forest. The running skill set required was more varied than in Queensland. I was injured for this race with peroneal tendonitis and came 4th.
I have already covered these races in detail in my race recaps for each race. So instead of discussing the races here I am going to discuss a number of factors that I think should be considered in the Spartan national series for future years:
1. Number of races and race distance
In 2019 we had three race distances in the National Series, 1 Sprint, 1 Super and 1 Beast. Three other series also used this format – the DACH Regional Series, Italy National Series, and Canada National Series. Only two series (UK/Ireland and SEA) favoured shorter races with 1 Sprint and 2 Supers. Australia used this shorter distance format in 2018. You can already see there is a lot of variation in series internationally. The other series either have more races or a higher ratio of longer races than Australia.
The US which is the home of Spartan has clearly geared its National Series towards longer races as a lead in to the World Championships with 4 Supers and 1 Beast. However, it should be noted that the US also offers a Stadium Series which provides options for racers who prefer short distances. At US National Series events there is usually an elite Sprint the day after the main elite race which gives racers further options. In Australia we do not have these opportunities, so I am not necessarily advocating to get rid of shorter races in the Australian National Series. I do think there should be at least one Beast distance since this is the World Championship distance. If a fourth race was added to the Australian National Series, I think it should be a Super distance so that there would be 1 Sprint, 2 Supers, 1 Beast. For completeness, here are the race formats for series not yet mentioned:
· Spain National Series 2 Super 1 Beast
· France National Series 3 Super 1 Beast
· East Asia Regional Series 2 Sprints 2 Supers 1 Beast
· CEU Regional Series 2 Sprints 2 Supers 1 Beast
2. Race schedule
The three races were held approximately four weeks apart. There was enough time between events in terms of recovery and training, but the travel was a lot financially in a relatively short amount of time. I would not recommend adopting a more intense race schedule. For example, the Canada National Series features a Sprint, Super and Beast all within the month of June. It would be extremely hard for most people to juggle full time work and/or caring responsibilities and the cost of travelling to Spartan races in such a short time frame.
3. Continue to pay attention to race start times and obstacle placement early in races
I appreciated that in 2019 the elite wave was always the first wave of the day meaning we did not have to overtake a myriad of slower earlier starters. I also appreciated that the start of the race was more thoughtfully designed to minimise congestion and injury. In 2017 and 2018 there was a tendency to put toblerones or other obstacles very close to the start and this increased the risk of injury, especially given the mixed gender start and also the mix of ability levels that enter elite races (there is currently no qualifying criteria to enter an elite race so anyone can enter). In 2019 there was always a distance before these obstacles to give the field a chance to spread out.
4. Consider separate gender start times
I don’t think we have enough elite racers to justify having females start separately from males. I like starting both genders at the same time because the alternative scenario is usually that men start first then the women have to overtake a lot of the slower men when they start. However, in the United States and some European series, genders start separately. At Championship events like the World Championships, the women start 30mins after the men which would minimise any overtaking women have to do.
5. Doing more to keep Age Group racers happy
I am not sure what the exact problems were, but after races I would hear a lot of unhappy comments from Age Group competitors about the way the race was run and about other Age Group competitors. Age Group racers make up a large chunk of National Series participants, so hopefully whatever the problems are can be addressed. Wish I could add more specificity here.
6. Increase obstacle difficulty
The National Series races would ideally have an increased level of obstacle difficulty to normal races, at least for elite and age group racers. This would involve simple changes like adding different components to the multi rig like baboon bars or short rope grips, increasing distance between and angle of monkey bars, or the carrying of two sandbags at carries.
I am interested in hearing about your experiences at the 2019 National Series and your views on the direction the series should take in 2020. Would you attend more races if more races were added? Which race distances would you like to see more of?