Spartan race Melbourne was the toughest short course obstacle race I have ever completed! Not knowing what obstacles where next kept you intrigued and nervous at the same time. It mentally and physically pushed you to your limits.
Nervous and excited, I lined up in the elite wave at 8:30am, chiseled bodies everywhere I looked. Off we went at a cracking pace. Sitting about 10th place I settled into a nice rhythm early not pushing too hard as I had no idea what to expect. The ground was undulating with twists and turns on the motor cross bike track. Coming up over the hill, I noticed the first obstacle:
barbed wire crawl. It was only about 40m long, but was very low.
* Tips: get down low as possible and drive with your legs alternating with your elbows. I didn’t roll on that one. Legs were getting a nice workout and the old heart rate was starting to climb. Crawling beside Shawn (pink tutu) made me laugh!
Relieved to stand up again, all covered in dirt, I pushed on. Pace was comfortable and I holding my ground, when 3 or 4
hay bales appeared in the distance. Not much trouble here, just one big jump and swung my leg over them!
* Tip: get a good run up and launch yourself at them, use upper body to help with last effort over. There was nowhere you could get a good running rhythm; it was as though you were are running through scrub at knee height!
All of a sudden a few large
dirt holes appeared, up and down about 4 holes.
* Tips: invest in some Innov8s, great for grip. Follow the other athletes’ foot holes; it helps give you leverage getting out! After about 200m of running through heavy scrub, we were given a 15-20kg
sandbag to carry. Following the others, I threw it on my back, holding it with both hands. This run seemed to go on forever, and my back was screaming between my shoulder blades. I struggled with this as Deanna, Shawn (tutu), and Mark flew past me like I was standing still! When I thought it was nearly over, I notice a heap of tires about 50m long just to make things a little harder for us!! Finally as I turned a corner, the sandbag carry finish was in sight—thank God!
As I took off the sand bag, it felt like 1km (600m) really! Feeling that sandbag go off my back was a huge relief as I scooted around the corner to find the next obstacle,
balance beam. My legs were tired and wobbly by this point. As I approached, I noticed a few guys falling off. “30 burpees, please,” as I grinned to myself. The beam is 30 mm wide and in a zigzag pattern about 30m long. It was tough; I nearly fell off 3x doing some wild arm waving and hip shaking to stay balanced. Slow and steady in some areas and super fast when I lost my balance.
* Tip: use the corners to regain your balance and trust your instincts. Letting out a big fist-pumping “you beauty” as I completed the balance beam.
Up and around a few small hills and turn, the next obstacle appeared:
8ft walls. I’m quite short at only 5’9” so those walls looked pretty intimidating. After a few deep breaths, I attacked it at full pace with no plan in mind. As I approached, I leapt off my left foot and with right griping the wall, I managed to grab the top quit easily and pull myself over.
* Tip: run fast and leap as high as possible. As soon as you get your elbow over, throw your leg over than you can muscle your way the rest!
There was more running as I passed Deanna and a few others. The next
barbed wire crawl was in sight. My knees were sore and bruised already. I sucked it up and got to crawling, attempting my best army crawls for about 20m. Legs were tired and knees were copping a hiding. I noticed the others rolling which looked a lot easier and faster so I tried that. Worked great for about 8 rolls, but then I got massive dizzy spins. I alternated between army crawls and rolls.
The barbed wire crawl has to be about 80+ meters which was really tough on the body and the heart. Covered in dust, bruised and bleeding, I finally rolled out from the very low barb wire. As I stood up, I took about 8 steps sideways as thought I was drunk nearly falling over.
* Tip: army crawl until your legs get tired then army roll. It’s much quicker! Get your ass down and drive with legs.
After regaining my balance, I was off again, trailing behind Deanna by about 30m. Next obstacle popped up very quickly:
horizontal wall climb (aka the
Traverse wall in the States). I found this one very easy.
* Tips : Try and have 3 points of contact on the wall at all times. Get a solid grip and move quickly. I think I was coming about 7th place with 3rd place OCRL right behind me. Around a few tight bends, large rocks, very uneven ground, I nearly went over on my ankle a few times. Next obstacle was to jump over about 7
triangle-shape tunnels that we eventually had to crawl through. It was easy to jump over, but coming through was tough on the knees so I just used elbows and scull dragged myself through as I winged about my battered knees.
* Tip: buy full-length compression pants. I definitely will have some for Sydney Spartan.
There was a
water obstacle ahead which was about 60m long. I noticed it was quiet deep in some parts so I freestyled it ¾ of the way, making up a lot of ground right behind Deanna and Mark.
* Tip: If you’re a good swimmer, do freestyle. You only need about 60cm clear water and you’re fine. Saves taxing the legs through the mud. Only downfall was the water was quiet cold and gave me a nice ice headache.
As I exited the water, I noticed the next obstacle approaching quickly, the
rope climb. I pulled myself up quiet easily to the top and just managed to get one elbow over the edge. Leveraging myself up, I was faced with a cargo net climb, and it had no tension in it. As I took my first step, I completely stuffed it and face planted the net hard, with both my arms and one leg going through the holes. Laughing at my dilemma, I somehow got myself out of it and climbed up the net to the top and back down this huge drop of at least 7m. Lucky I’m not scared of heights.
When I arrived at the event, I noticed the
vertical rope climb had no knots so I was franticly on youtube trying to learn how to climb up the rope (Crossfit Rope Climb). As I climbed down the net and into the water to attempt the rope climb, my mind went blank. I said stuff it, and just used my arms to muscle my way up quite easily and slammed the bell with a huge grin on my face.
With the finish line in sight, I could see Deanna and Mark about 50m in front approaching the
spear throw. They both missed and were on their burpees when I arrived. This was a make or break throw so I took my time and steadied myself. With a little run up and a few Hail Marys, I launched the spear. Unfortunately, it hit the top right hand corner of the bale and bloody didn’t stick. “30 burpees, mate” a voice proclaimed from somewhere. I didn’t even look up. I was pissed with myself for missing so I took it out on my body with a blistering 30 burpees. I was coming 7th but slipped back to 11th place from the miss! Heart beating out of my chest, I ran flat out to the next obstacle which was only about 30m away.
Monkey bars were thick and a little slippery so I worked my way to the side which had a nice grip. I was over successfully and onto the
Gladiators for final 50m run to the finish line. I ran hard and put a nice side step on 2 gladiators only to run straight into the biggest of them all whom I had a little wrestle with and finally broke free. Battered, bruised and bleeding from the knees, I crossed the line in 11th place and 6th in OCRL.
It was a pleasure to be a part of history and take part in the first ever
Australian Spartan Race and OCRL race. Spartan Race put on an amazing event. The race was very challenging and tested all aspects of my fitness and mental toughness. The volunteers were amazing and full credit to all the Spartan staff who organized a spectacular event that will set the bar for obstacle course races in Australia and overseas.
my rating: 9/10
Bring on Sydney Spartan :)
Michael Aspinall
Elite Obstacle Course Racer
