In what is shaping up to be the most competitive obstacle with the longest lines, Photo Finding is painful and exhausting. Here is how this obstacle works:
1. Run any Spartan Race that says you get free* photos within 5-7 days from the race completion date.
2. Wait 7 days at the minimum to maximize disappointment and confusion.
3. Go to Spartan.com and use the menu. start with Race then the drop down to Results & Photos.
4. Find your race among the past dates, should be easy still at this point. Click the race you are in, ignore the pop up that encourages you to sign up for another race at some kind of deal.
5. Now here is where the really fun part starts, this is where your years of training on a computer will come in handy. Click the link to view photos from your race. It looks like this:
6. You will then get to this screen where you can type in your race number and it will tell you there are no photos found
7. Now dig really deep, not yelling in confusion and anger is really hard here. Because you likely smiled for a camera or at least heard the photographers shutter click as you ran by. You may have even seen or heard the chronotrack timing system beep as you went past the photographer. This is what helps them connect you to the photos.
8. Email [email protected]. Tell them your problem and get the initial canned response on how you can access your photos. Because of course you didn’t think to follow the above steps and look yourself, who would try and find something on their own.
“Hello, Thank you for contacting us. Citi photos should all be posted. Make sure you are looking not just with bib number but with time stamps as well. If you need to get a better idea of what your time stamps are, log into your chronotrack account and look under the “Timing” tab. AROO”
9. Oh good thankfully they have a timing search. I’ll save you time, it doesn’t work either. And if you tell me to AROO again I’ll explode.
10. The true test of this obstacle is at hand, now you get to browse the photos by clicking next 36 repeatedly and waiting until it loads. I hope you remembered when you went past that photographer at whatever random obstacle he was at or that you remembered when you went past the auto camera that you didn’t even see.
11. Just keep clicking and waiting, eventually after look at everyone before you rans photos yours will appear. Hopefully you didn’t impatiently click past it, your years of training to be a buddhist monk should have come in handy.
Photo Finding Tips
- Go to Chronotrack.com and sign in to see your actual start and finish times. This will give you a 1-4 hour window of photos to look through.
- You must email [email protected], otherwise this problem will never be fixed. The more emails they get the bigger of an issue it is. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and yada yada yada.
- Run an early heat time. If you run after 1pm you will have a serious click fest on your hands.
- Bring your own photographer or becomes friends with the Spartan Race photogs on Facebook. They might be kind enough to directly email you the photos they took from their station.
- Wear a really distinctive shirt so while your brain goes numb from processing photos of thousands of people it will stand out.
A gallery of struggle with this new obstacle:
Let us know how your experience was, leave a comment.
Dario
Latest posts by Dario (see all)
- Hyperlite Mountain Gear 2400 Junction Review - October 24, 2022
- Spartan Products Review - October 26, 2020
- Top 5 Shoes For Obstacle Racing – 2018 - September 10, 2018
I disagree with the waiting 7 days to start… After last year’s VT Beast while looking for pictures, there were different amounts of pictures different days. I.e. some pictures were there 4 days after the race, then less then next day, then some others later…
That entire system is really messed up on so many levels…
Seriously, this is an issue? I figured out the trick that Spartan mentions in response on my own. ” Make sure you are looking not just with bib number but with time stamps as well. If you need to get a better idea of what your time stamps are, log into your chronotrack account and look under the “Timing” tab.” I downloaded my photos and my wife’s photos in a few minutes.
I’m inclined to give a lot of benefit of the doubt to Spartan on photos—it is a pretty massive undertaking to have to process that amount of image.
That said, Step #12: When you do find a photo, attempt to mail it to someone. Then, get motion sickness from the moving captchas you have to match before you can send. Yes, moving captchas. When plain captchas aren’t annoying enough.
Aroo!
*kaboom*