Some are dubbing the 2017 Spartan (Ultra) Beast that was held in Sun Peaks on September 23rd, 2017 as the Toughest in the World. All I can tell you is, I somehow finished that dang Beast! I’m not sure how so many did it TWICE! I’ll be honest right from the beginning, me & my best friend Troy whom I was helping pace came in absolutely dead last, if you go look at the results for the open heat we are the very last two names on the results sheets, and I’m totally okay with that because this race was the culmination of our very first initiation into the Trifecta Tribe & we left anything we had left in us up there on those peaks!
The Numbers:
The below photo was taken from an Instagram post by the Course Designer Johnny Waite (IG=participant_ribbon)
During the race, we would pretty much summit all three peaks that the resort has access to. Below are the approximate ascension gains that we made on each peak taken from my Garmin stats.
1st Mountain: Sundance ~470m/1542ft
2nd Mountain: Mt. Morrisey ~390m/1280ft
3rd Mountain: Mt. Todd ~868m/2848ft
The final distance of the race is a bit of a toss-up. It was posted at 24km/14.9mi & I’ve seen people posting their results anywhere from 26-29km/16.15-18mi.
For the Ultra Beast, it took the Elites a minimum of 8:25:01 for 1st place to complete & last place came in at 13:36:46.
As for the Beast, it took the Elites a minimum of 3:33:23 for 1st place to complete & last place came in at 11:44:29.
The Experience:
I arrived in Sun Peaks on Wednesday. I went a few days early as I was planning on working/volunteering to help set up the course. During that time I was able to catch glimpses of what was to come. The course maps that I had brushed passed showed early warning signs that we would summit all three of the main mountains within the Sun Peaks resort & that filled me with a little bit of anticipation. I hadn’t really trained for the sheer elevation gain that was about to come, but I had at least recently done a few hikes, the last one being a 23.36km/14.5mi with 948m/3110ft of elevation gain so it was good practice. The race itself left me both physically & mentally exhausted.
The Obstacles:
Aside from a few subtleties in how obstacles were laid out, most of the 31 obstacles were pretty much the regular staples. Doing the Stairway to Sparta at the top of Sundance @1730m/5676ft was pretty cool & it has an absolutely beautiful view. This was my first time coming across the Tyrolean Traverse & I somehow held on & pulled myself across it & decided to headbutt the cowbell which left its mark. =)
Even though this wasn’t on the list, right after the Tyrolean was what many are now calling Death March Part 2 referring to the massive mountain climb done in Killington. We had to climb up one of the ski runs called Challenger, according to sources, the run has a 474m/1555ft ascent within 1km/.62mi which was accomplished by many by crawling on hands & knees due to it being so steep. I was told the Creek Crawl was rather beautiful, but due to the sheer time of day & lack of sunlight, I passed it by along with a few others.
You’ve been cut:
After we had completed the death march, we slowly switchback climbed up to the peak of Mt. Todd and I could see a few people standing up there waving people up. It was nearly 6:30 pm when we reached the summit & we were greeted by Johnny Waite who told me we were done & that we had missed the deadline by about 10mins. Naturally, I was crushed, but I quickly came to grips with it as I knew there was nothing more that I could do and that I had done well pacing Troy through those mountains.
I walked back down a bit to catch up to Troy & let him know that his silent prayers of no longer having to keep going had been answered & that we would be driven down. I could see the confusion on his face & explained that we missed the final cut off and that all racers needed to be off the mountain by 7:30 pm. Then I saw the anguish on his face knowing that he wasn’t going to be given the chance to earn his Trifecta that day with so much put into the effort.
We walked up & we asked Johnny if there was any way we could still finish. He told us there were at least 2 hours left, asked us what time we had started & once we answered 8:30 am he told us we were done. At that time another racer came up the hill & I let her know what I was told. I could tell she was a bit more upset by the news & she went over to Johnny to plead her case. She too was gunning for her first Trifecta. Johnny asked her what time she had started & she answered 11:30. Johnny walked over to the edge of the hill to survey how many others were coming. We let him know there was probably a dozen or so behind us. He then looked at Troy & I and told us that if we could keep up her pace & beat him down to the Z-Walls in his truck that we still had a chance.
I could see Troy was physically & mentally done, he was toying with the idea of taking that ride down the mountain. Troy was recently on disability and has since started up a youth foundation that at its core is about how everyone can change their life if they just believed better was possible, he knew he had to go on so he could use this whole experience as a life-changing beacon for others.
A second chance:
Once Troy had raised up enough gusto and made up his mind to finish the race it was total go time! We had about 5km/3.1m left until we were finished & it was all downhill from there after getting past the 8-foot wall. Troy’s feet were in pain & having his toes smashed into the front of his shoes going downhill wasn’t helping. I could hear him yelping over & over as he tried to quicken his pace to make sure we made the cutoff.
We completed the plate drag & came up to another drop, this one was pretty steep but we could see the Z-Walls & no sign of Johnny! Once we made it passed the Z-Walls we knew we were on borrowed time. We completed the Atlas Carry & were told to bypass the Creek Crawl due to the lack of light. That’s when the volunteers’ radio went off. It was Johnny asking if we had made it there, we had, just in time it would seem.
From there we trudged down a service road & a few trucks passed us, I was sure one of them was the sweepers but they all kept passing us by, each time my heart would speed up just a bit more. We were then brought back into the trails, the one place a truck couldn’t get into, we were safe for now, or so I had thought. We heard Johnny call out to a racer just behind us & he told them to head back to the last water station, I knew he wasn’t far behind. A few more minutes in the trails and I heard Johnny’s voice again calling to Troy. I was a bit out front trying to pace Troy as fast as I could. I figured our number was up.
A Miracle For The Finishers:
I walked back & we had a quick conversation with Johnny. He asked us if we were both a part of Vancity OCR, we let him know that we were & he then said the sweetest words my ears had ever heard. He told us that he was going to walk us down & that we were going to finish the race with him. OMG!
I was filled with such elation & marvel knowing at that moment we were going to finish! Johnny walked us past a few of the obstacles & a small portion of the course that went back up into the woods for a bit & Troy & I actually picked up our pace even more and ran down into the festival area. I completed the Herc Hoist with what felt like no force at all and climbed up & over the Slip Wall. I somehow lost Troy in the and the mayhem that was at the end of that race & jumped the fire to receive my very well earned Beast Medal. Troy showed up about 3 minutes behind me; he came over that wall & finished his race too.
All in a Day’s Work:
This weekend was one for the books I’ll tell ya that! First Beast & first Trifecta DONE. Would I go back knowing that even the Sprint last year at Sun Peaks was 9.6km/5.5mi instead of the 7.3k & this year the beast was the hardest ever? Hell yeah!
Thank you Spartan, you showed me what I might actually be capable of doing & more this weekend. Lookout endurance races, I just may be coming for you!
Photo Credits: Johnny Waite, www.SunPeaksResort.com, Ryan Fick & John Tai
Ryan Fick
Ryan has a beautiful Mudd Queen as a wife & 3 gorgeous daughters Brandi (20), Samantha (18) & Sierra (5) that keep him busy.
Drop him a line if you have any questions or just want to say Hi.=)
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