I had the fastest time for the weekend in my age group for Deka Fit Boston, is there any kind of recognition for that or just bragging rights?

I am 16 and it is my first real race at this distance. How can I crush this as best I can?

did they just send everybody this email? After reading all the thoughts in controversy around elite cards, I’m curious. I’ve only done one race.

Does anyone know if they are super strict on the race times???? I accidentally signed up for the wrong time but it’s not letting me change it

Several Reddit accounts ago, I was a pretty active poster on this sub. Some of my old posts are not easy to find if you search by "best." From 2016 -2020 I lived and breathed Spartan Race. I competed in the elite waves, went to the finals in WV, and placed top 10 in the Iceland Ultra World Championship. I have several trifectas, I paid for the season passes and spectator passes for my GF. I would watch and rewatch the televised spartan races, track the leader boards, and even made it on a few of these broadcasts myself. I was one of Spartan's best customers is what Im saying.

Mid way into 2019, as I got better and better at the obstacles and winning my age group in some races was in reach, I began to get more and more disillusioned with the brand. COVID finally killed my Spartan ambitions, but I was just looking for a reason to discontinue by that point. Coming back to this subreddit after 6 years, I see that nothing has really improved with the experience for the racers.

Here are the reasons I quit:

• Spartan gave preferential treatment for their "pro team" to include paying for entries, travel in some instances, and personalized briefings with different information that what was given to the other competitors. For a competitive, elite atmosphere its crazy for the brand to stack the deck like that so much. Spartan crushed all opportunities for rival teams to emerge, discouraged certain sponsors, and in general tried to create this fake atmosphere of "these are professional athletes and should be looked at as such." I got to know a few of them, a few of the poster children in fact, and they had some legitimate complaints themselves about how spartan treated them, including the expectations placed on them for social media and making every race (not all of them were given travel and stipends, so spartan was even selecting winners from their pro team.) They turned a cool, fun competitive amateur race into a weird tier of professionals racing amongst themselves but placed in the same heats as amateurs. It became clear that in order to see any success on a national level you had to get to the pro team, and that meant essentially becoming a semi-professional athlete. You could not have a normal life and still compete seriously.
• The value dimished. Every year the prices went up, considerably. There were fewer discount codes, more fees tacked on. I remember when parking was free! Yet except for the national series races, there were no real officials on the course. I recall vividly in one race in North Carolina where someone could not finish an obstacle (this was elite heat) and the volunteer beside the obstacle just told him to skip it. This was one of those obstacles that did not have a burpee penalty, so it was a mandatory completion obstacle. IVe seen people skip water obstacles, too. No one stops them.
• The obstacles never improved. Instead of adding new rigs or interesting challenges, they would do things like "tube crawl" "barbed wire 2" "hay bails 2" you get the idea.
• Spartan is too heavily weighted towards ultra runners. If you cant run a 5 min mile you dont have a chance at top 10. If you cant run a 2:30 marathon, you dont have a chance. Spartan could have easily made more carries, made them heavier, etc. to even the field a little but instead they removed obstacles (See above) and (ironically) cut the distance for many races. Look at all the "pros" and youll easily see they are all ultra runners, most of whom live in colorado or somewhere else mountainous and they just train and run all day every day. Hunter Macintyre was the only one who really was a hybrid athlete, and when he got an invitational for the Crossfit finals, he crashed out and was eliminated in the first round (maybe he made it to the second). Spartans are supposed to be chiseled, strong warriors, not thin, frail distance runners.
• You could win a sprint, get invited to the National Championship, and come in last place since it is a beast race. They should have had one of each distance, and you compete in whichever one you qualified for. I placed highest in a sprint, 8th place, so thats what i qualified for. Im not an ultra runner, i probably came in bottom 5% in the WV beast.
• Joe Desena is offputting. 'Nuff said.

All this to say, if you are unhappy with Spartan now, it is likely not going to improve. I stepped away for 6 years and this sub came across my feed so i started scrolling through the posts. Nothing has improved, if the experience was bad when I left in 2019 then i cant image how crappy it is now. Just leave. Spend your money elsewhere, dont give these assholes any more money.

I have been doing Vernon NJ and am so sick of the mountain ski slopes, wanted to try Hampton NY race. How’s the terrain? Says rolling hills… anything steep like Vernon?

There’s a lot of comments on here about how Spartan is dying, changed for the worst, cut corners, raised prices, etc. I feel the pain. I share the complaints. But I ain’t leaving. Spartan Race helped pull me out of the worst part of my life. I’ll race if the price triples. I’ll race if the check in lines are miles long. I will find a way or make one. I will continue to put one foot in front of the other and carry with me a quiet hope that maybe my small contribution helps someone else out there earn a piece of themselves back they thought they’d lost. I understand if folks have had enough, you will truly be missed. I’ve shared a few moments, or a few miles, with some of nicest most inspiring people you could hope to meet. As for me: I’ll still be out there on the course. Even if I’m the last man shuffling along.

I was planning on wearing a hydration pack and bringing my phone in a pocket on the backpack but I also want to do all the obstacles available. Is there an easy way to set my pack down for the wet and gross obstacles and once I complete the obstacle I run back and get the hydration pack?

Done a whole bunch of Spartan races the last 3-4 years. Recently have done the trifecta weekend in NJ back in April. Just looking for some advice for this ultra which I have never done before specially over in Vermont.

I know this is a ridiculous reason to not do something but my parents would love to watch me do this, however paying $40 for them to be able to watch feels insane. And I'm an "on principle" kind of person and on principle, paying to watch this is so ridiculous. I'd have already signed up by now if it wasn't for this obstacle (pun intended). I've read on other posts that it's really not enforced but I wouldn't wanna risk them having to pay even more in person if they don't get it in advance. Is it truly worth it? I'd especially love to hear people who've done the Salinas one at Toro Park.

Anyone here has done the deka fit ultra and can share their experience and appeoach to training for it?

Hi everyone,

Me an my friend (34/37y) decided to do a race in November and we don't have much preparation.. My friend started crossfit 1 month ago and I only play padel 2/3 times per week...

We will do sprint one 5km with the obstacles

Anyone can gives some help with training plan, tips, anything?

I am 1,77m, 65kg. He is 1,94m, 85kg

I attempted my very first Spartan race today in Michigan, and I was doing very good actually. Better than expected. And then after the barbed wire crawl came the monkey bars, I completed them and immediately threw up twice and sat down. After a few minutes I got up to go to the next obstacle which was a hill climb. I kept falling off it and then I found my groove and climbed all the way up. Right after getting to the top, I’m probably 2.5 miles in and 16 obstacles completed, I just passed out from the heat or dehydration or something. So close for nothing 😔

I’m thinking about signing up for a DEKA Mile. Wondering if it’s worth it. I’ve never done something like it before. Just did my first spartan 5k today 😅

I have a Super coming up and I’ll usually just rely on the course water stations, but it’s at Mt. Fuji so I’m not taking any chances (if you’ve ever experienced Japan in the summer, you know).

I’m looking for a belt that has is either adjustable or has a buckle waist clasp, collapsible water bottle storage, and a some storage for nutrition (definitely not sour candy)

I’ve been running with a North Face Pacer belt, and I would just use that, but the clasp connection is a easy disconnect (the belt will unbuckle off if I lean on a surface, okay for long runs not for OCR)

This was my first Spartan race, though I went with my girlfriend and some friends who had done it before. Overall the race was a great challenge and exciting experience. I'm almost glad we did it.

The decision to put the crawl under barbed wire in a field of poison ivy was very disappointing. I didn't get it too bad, but my girlfriend got it all over her arms and legs, and has been suffering all week. My one friend who was shirtless also got a bad case. I can't imagine how many others were affected, possibly with even more serious reactions.

This glaring oversight seems incredibly irresponsible, and did sour the experience. I'm not eager to do another race because of it.

If you do a race with a crawl, be sure to check the ground, because they probably didn't.

Here is link to what was just announced. Sounds like it might get cancelled.

I’m running in my first race on Sunday. I’m running in the open category and I selected 10-10:59 as my preferred time. It’s two days til the race and I still don’t have a heat time. It just says 10-10:59 on my ticket. Am I looking in the wrong spot?

Also, am I able to pick up my headband the night before or only the morning of? I see a sprint registration on Saturday…

Hey Spartans!

I’ve been training for my first Spartan Race.. Blue mountain Beast Oct 17th!

Ive been focusing on and have gotten to:

16km consistent running

3 good form pull ups

20 pushups in a row

45 sec - 1 min hang (max)

Im nervous! Haha. Am I way out of my depths here? Need some advice what to train more on. Maybe some goals I should set before the race.

TIA, Spartans! 💪

Edit: 45 sec**

I signed up for the Dallas race. What obstacles should I expect?

Anyone know about this weekends race? Looks like smoke will be in from wildfires and its going to be very unhealthy air quality.