Spartan Race’s New “U.S. Championship Series”

Spartan Race are announcing a brand new “U.S. Championship Series” which will have payouts of $100,000 and coincide with all of the NBC televised races this year.

Here are the highlights. (Entire press release can be found at the end of this article).

• Spartan are essentially creating a “mini season” with 5 televised races.
• They have chosen to give each of the 5 races a cool sounding name.
• Each race in the Series will pay the first 5 places a larger payout than regular races.
• Overall Series payouts will pay down to 20 places
• You must race 4 of the 5 races to qualify as Series Champion.
• There will still be a separate “*Spartan World Champion” crowned at the Beast in Tahoe. To qualify for the Tahoe Championship, athletes need a coin to participate, just as they did in 2015. Read all about earning your 2016 coin here.

*This once a year race has been how Spartan have determined champions since 2011. It was held in Glen Rose, Texas in 2011, Killington, Vermont from 2012-2014, and Tahoe in 2015.

Here is the lineup for this first ever Championship Series.

Event: Montana Sprint   Name: Big Sky Sprint

Race Date: May 8    TV Date: July 20

Event: Monterey Super   Name: Golden State Classic

Race Date: June 4    TV Date: August 23

Event: Pennsylvania Super   Name: Blue Mountain Challenge

Race Date: July 16    TV Date: August 23

Event: Asheville Super   Name: Southeast Showdown

Race Date: August 6   TV Date: September 27

Event: Breckenridge Beast   Name: The Summit

Race Date: August 27  TV Date: October 11

We reached out to several top racers for their reactions.

Amelia Boone, Spartan Pro Team. WTM Champ 2012, 2013, 2015 and Spartan Points Champion 2015 told us:

I’m stoked! I also appreciate Spartan’s attempt to make each race into a WWE pay-per-view. I hope it comes with entrance music for each competitor.

Lindsay Webster, BattleFrog Pro Team,  2nd in last year’s Tahoe Championship, 2015 OCRWC Champion said:

Elite athletes in OCR really appreciate Spartan’s efforts to grow and televise the sport, and it looks like they’ve come up with another great way to do it here. Not only does this give us some fantastic opportunities to go head-to-head with our top competitors on a regular basis throughout the season, but the televised coverage goes such a long way for us as athletes in gaining exposure for ourselves.

Chad Trammell, Spartan Pro Team, 2015 WTM Champ responded with:

This guarantees all the top guys will be at all the races! Last year it seemed like about half of the top racers would show up at a given TV race, but there won’t be any ducking the competition this year. I know this announcement already has me reconfiguring my summer schedule to attend all the TV races.

2105 Tahoe Championship Robert Killian added:

With training going well and a great start to the season, I’m pumped to hear that Spartan Race will put on the first National Championship series pitting Americans best against each other. This is what our sport needs to take it to the next level and I’m honored to be a part of it. I’ll be blunt, I want the title! Especially since the last race will be held in Breckenridge Colorado where I finished my first Spartan Race last year.

Spartan released a teaser video this afternoon.

Posted by Spartan Race on Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Some additional info can be found here.

The complete press release can be found here.

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Matt B. Davis

is the host of the Obstacle Racing Media Podcast and the author of "Down and Dirty-The Essential Training Guide for Obstacle Races and Mud Runs". He is also the only (known) #wafflehouseelite obstacle racer.

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