The Spartan Race Mountain Series kicked off in Big Fork Montana on May 5th. The Beast and Sprint weekend was a challenge to say the least! With a cumulative elevation gain of approximately 4,000 ft., distance of 13.1 miles, 31 obstacles, and a bear….it was one heck of a race!
The course took a left turn right away, taking us up the first of many hills that we would encounter during this race. We had a couple of muddy shallow water crossings, over walls, and the monkey bars. The second bar was the one that was the highest and for some reason I just couldn’t get myself to reach for it. I stared it down for at least 5 minutes! I finally went and made it.
The 6 ft. and 7 ft. walls were next. When I reached the 7 ft. wall I noticed a wire fence to the left of the wall and on the other side was a bear! It wasn’t a baby and not full grown. It was having a lot of fun frolicking and jumping around like a puppy! I was thankful there was a fence between us. When I reached the top of the wall I saw a large opening in the fence…..which we were supposed to run through next! The bear trotted off further into the woods and I waited a little bit to be sure he was gone and then continued on.
The first sandbag carry overlooked Flathead Lake. The beautiful view took your mind off of the work you were doing. The Z-Wall and 8 ft. wall were next, followed by the longest Tyrolean Traverse I’ve ever done. I usually don’t have a problem crossing this obstacle but I was so spent by the end that I fell straight down when I hit the bell. My forearms burned for a while, but I shook them out on my way to the first barbed wire crawl.
There were a few more obstacles and then we came to a large clearing in the woods that held several obstacles. The rig, herc hoist, atlas ball, rope, dunk wall, slip wall. It was a great viewing area for the spectators. I didn’t make the rig but pulled the herc hoist right up with no problem. Then, up and down hill after hill. My calves burned and I was wearing out a little at this point.
Next was the hill that really got me. The second sandbag carry was steep and long. We used the old school sandbags which were a little harder to get a hold of. Going down hill was fine, but you knew that every step you took would mean a step back up. At one point I thought we were nearing the end but it just kept going. We turned to go back up and I remembered my mountain climbing tips and did a step-pause the whole way up. I made it without having to stop, but it was a pretty slow ascent. After reaching the top it was off to the cargo net and Spearman. I made the throw! I was thankful as I really didn’t want to do burpees after that sandbag carry.
We had a few more obstacles and found ourselves back at the atlas carry and ropes. I made the rope and then headed to the dunk wall. Cold is my kryptonite and when I dipped my foot in I knew this was going to be one of the coldest ones I’ve done. I stared it down just like I did the monkey bars (I really don’t know why I do that….silly). I finally went and got through it. The slip wall had short short short ropes. This was followed by the Olympus and the bucket carry. I was actually wondering if they forgot about the bucket since I hadn’t seen it yet, but there it was. The good news was they took it pretty easy on us. It was still a challenge but it could have been much worse with all of those hills they had to work with.
Just four obstacles to go until the finish line. The second barbed wire crawl was extra low and loosened up a bit, making it hard to navigate. Next was twister, the inverted wall (I love this one), and finally the fire jump! I always think to myself, “don’t fall in the fire, don’t fall in the fire”. I made it, got my medal and victory banana and made my way back to the biggest team tent with my team, Beasts OCR! They are such an amazing group. My second family! We were all tired and humbled, but proud of our accomplishment after tackling such a grueling mountain race!
Photo credit: Kim Collings, Spartan Race, Adam Birgenheier
Kim Collings
Latest posts by Kim Collings (see all)
- SoCal Spartan: Surprises for 2019 - March 14, 2019
- Spartan Race Mountain Series: Montana Beast and Sprint - May 17, 2018
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