Breaking News: The short course in Vermont will NOT determine the Spartan World Champion.
We just received some interesting news from Spartan Race concerning the upcoming Spartan Beast World Championships.
Many have been speculating about how Spartan would pull off what they were touting as a “Two Part Championship”. Spartan had previously announced that the Vermont Beast Championship would consist of the 13 plus mile Beast course followed up by a short “stadium style” course, just a few hours later. Most presumed this would allow NBC to have something simpler and more audience friendly to televise.
While many in the community disagreed on whether or not it was a good idea, OCR legend Hobie Call (and former Spartan poster boy) went as far as to call the event unsafe. He wrote this article two days ago laying out his reasons.
In the last few hours, Spartan Race gave us the following bullet points of what the short course is, and isn’t.
Short Course
- 10 of the best male and female obstacle racers in the world competing head to head on a 1/2 mile course with 10-15 obstacles, 5-6 laps, total duration 20-30 minutes.
- Prize Money: $8,500 for men and women – Top 5 M/F
- A bonus to the championship event
- Winner of the Beast is the World Champion
- No Points Awarded
- Will be filmed for future television air date
- With safety as our primary focus, the course will be completely paved, lined with handrails, padding, and shiny objects and racers may accept rides in vehicles if they get tired or if their feet hurt*.
- *Some of this may not be accurate.
Update as of 6:30pm EST
The top 10 Elite Beast male and female finishers will be offered a chance to compete in the Short Course event on Saturday afternoon. Should one or more of those racers choose not to compete, we will offer the spot to the next eligible finisher until we have a full group of 10 men and 10 women.
The short course event will allow racers to scout the entire length of the course in advance, so they’ll know exactly what course they’re racing on.
The Elite Men’s short course will start at 4:00pm.
The Elite Women’s short course will start at 4:30pm.
The World Championship, Short Course, and age group award ceremony will take place immediately following the finish of the short course event.
As part of our celebration of obstacle racing, all registered racers will be invited to run the short course on Sunday for FREE between the hours 11am and 2pm.
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We’d love to hear your take.
Does this make the short course more or less appealing now? Do you think the top racers will attempt this just money and fun with no championship on the line? Do you think the bullet point about safety is over the top?
Matt B. Davis
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The safety part seems like a nice little dig at Hobie who has been real twat-ish in the past 9 or so months regarding Spartan. We get it Hobie…you had a falling out. Stop being a whiney bitch.
No kidding. I thought he wasn’t even racing it this year because “he had nothing to prove.” I agree that if the short course would have ultimately determined the “World Champion” out of the top 20 finishers of the Beast, it would have been a lame idea, but a safety concern? 50% injury rate? That’s a stretch.
I like the idea of the short course. As spartans we are constantly pushing and challenging ourselves. Im sure the top elite men and women will have no problem running this course. They are the most fit people on earth and most have been training for years. This is my first yr as elite and im going to do everything I can to be in that group. Im up for it. Are you?
I’m glad to hear they took the route. As it makes the additional course an option to those after the initial race. The only person who can determine if their body can handle this event would be the athlete themselves and this allows them the opportunity to forego injury if needed. Best of luck to all at both events.
Nice write up Matt. Thx for posting this, clears up confusion!
I would love to try the short course but from 10-2 I will be on the real beast…
I’m with Hobie. Asking athletes to do a high-intensity, maximum effort race hours after the 13 mile beast WILL result in injuries. That’s just how anatomy works. Spartan Race seems to wave off safety concerns as whining, so they’ll go for it anyway.