Check donation LIVE on the telethon!

PITTSFIELD, Vt., August 21, 2012 – Spartan Race, the world’s leading obstacle race and Outside Magazine’s Best Obstacle Race in 2012, will donate $35,000 to the 11^th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund® Radio-Telethon underway today and tomorrow.  Since 2002, the telethon has raised more than $28 million for adult and pediatric cancer research and patient care at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

 Spartan Race co-founder Andy Weinberg will present the check live during the telethon, which will air on Boston radio and TV sports networks WEEI/NESN for 36 hours – overlapping two Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels games.  Part of a broader partnership to be unveiled shortly, the donation will underwrite the telethon phone bank and map that tracks donations coming in from all 50 states. Spartan Race further will support the event through social media, Jimmy Fund tables stocked with branded give-away items at Fenway Park during the Aug. 21 and 22 ball games and commercials shown inside the stadium throughout those games.

“It’s exciting to think about the synergy between our two organizations. Both of us are helping people face obstacles and challenges while doing everything we can to help them succeed,” said David M.Giagrando, director of corporate partnerships for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/The Jimmy Fund.  “Fighting cancer is really the ultimate battle and everything Spartan Race stands for is reflected in that.”

Later this year, Spartan Race will join yearlong festivities to commemorate Fenway Park’s 100^th anniversary. For the first time ever, Boston’s cherished ballpark will be transformed into an obstacle racing venue for the Spartan Sprint Time Trial presented by Dial For Men, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012.

Please help us help the Jimmy Fund meet their goal of getting a donation from every state! Go towww.JimmyFund.org or call 877-738-1234 and make a donation. No amount is too small!

About Spartan Race

Spartan Race, voted Outside Magazine’s Best Obstacle Race in 2012, is the world’s leading obstacle racing series and the first of its kind to have global rankings. Spartan Race is a timed event series featuring races at three escalating distances in locations worldwide that culminate in a World Championship Finale with cash and prizes for the champions. While featuring competitive elite heats, Spartan Races are for athletes of all levels and abilities and are geared toward ripping people off their couches and into the outdoors.

Go to http://www.spartanrace.com/ for more information, a schedule of events or to register for a Spartan Race. For videos, please visit www.spartanrace.tv.

Tags: andy weinberg, Boston, Fenway Park, Jimmy Fund, spartan race

By Carrie Adams

With the inclusion of the World’s first marathon distance obstacle race, the Spartan Ultra Beast, some incredible athletes are throwing their hats in the ring to be a participant.  With limited spots to fill and an application process, the Ultra Beast is going to be one of the most unique and challenging events on the planet.   You can read more about the event and how to claim one of the prized spots in this once-in-a-lifetime experience HERE.

One of the participants is using a non-traditional, traditional approach to train for the Ultra.  An Ironman.  Spartan Beast finisher in 2011, Rick Kraics will be using his Ironman training and ultimately his Ironman event in Madison, Wisconsin 13 days before the event as his training for the Ultra.  Listen to his story and wish him luck in his quest to go beyond the unknown in Spartan’s Ultra Beast September 22, 2012!

Ironman Training: Rick Kraics

My first Spartan Race was the 2011 Spartan Beast in Vermont.  I think the average time out there that day was 5-6 hours on the 13ish mile course.  So I felt pretty good about my 3:35:56 finishing time.  That said it was one of the hardest races I’ve ever done.  In fact, the Spartan Beast was mile for mile tougher than any other race I’ve ever done.  When I finished the Beast my body was trashed, I was completely exhausted, my legs were cramping, my stomach was nauseous and I was just glad I didn’t have to climb up that damn mountain again.  So earlier this year when Andy (one of the co-founders of Spartan Race) asked me if I wanted to step up and race in the Spartan Ultra Beast this year I had a decision to make.  It took about 2 seconds.  I said, “Of course I’m in.  What do you need from me?”  It turns out he wanted a lot out of me before I would officially be accepted into the Ultra Beast but I’ll tell you more about that later.  First a little background on me.

As a kid I ran a number of road races and even a half marathon.  Then I took a 15 year break from running.  I didn’t have a reason why I

Peak Ultra 30 Miler

stopped running other than I had other stuff going on in my life and running itself wasn’t a priority.  But in 2004 I started running again.  I liked it.  So I did my first marathon in 2005.  Then I started doing triathlons in early 2007.  I liked those too.  So in late 2007 I did my first Ironman.  I started trail running in 2010. I really liked trail running.  So I started ultra running in early 2011.  And then in late 2011 I ran my first Spartan Race – the Spartan Beast in Vermont.  I loved competing in the Spartan Beast.  So here I am again trying to prepare myself for what will again be mile for mile tougher than any other race I’ve ever competed in.

What exactly is the Ultra Beast?  The Spartan Web page states, “The Spartan Ultra Beast will be the world’s first marathon distance Obstacle Race.  It will be ONE heat that will feature two loops of the main Beast course.  Races will face the toughest course Spartan Race can bring, TWICE, before finding the finish line.  It’s not for the faint of heart!  For your own safety and for the competitive nature of the event, you will have to apply for acceptance in the Ultra Beast Marathon.”

So, how does one prepare for the toughest course Spartan Race can bring, twice?  Well, the bad news about training for the Ultra Beast is there are only two things I really know about the course.  First, it will involve lots of elevation gain so I’ve got to train by running some hills and living in a place at sea level with no real elevation change doesn’t make that easy.  And second I’ve got to increase my endurance because this race is going to take a long, long time.

The good news is what Andy wanted from me in order to be accepted into the Ultra Beast was for me to compete (again) in the Peaks Ultra, which is a race in Pittsfield, VT. If you know Pittsfield (the location of the infamous Death Race), then you know there are plenty of mountains to run.  I ran the 30 mile race and in doing so felt like a slacker.  You see the morning I started running a fella by the name of Willy had just won the 500 mile Peaks Ultra race.  It took him just over eight days.  Other course options included a 50, 100, 150 and 200 milers. So you’ll understand when I tell you that my 2nd place finish in the 30 miler still feels kind of hollow.  On a positive note though, that race started my hill training again so I’m on my way to being better prepared for the Ultra Beast.

So now with hill training out of the way (wink, wink) I need to focus on endurance training.  The Ultra Beast is going to be the toughest race I tackle this year for sure but that doesn’t mean it is going to be the longest.  According to  Wikipedia  ”Endurance (also called Sufferance, Stamina, Resilience, or Durability) is the ability for a human or animal to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue.”  That sounds exactly like what I’ll need for the Ultra Beast!  The part I can train for is the ability to remain active for a long period of time.  What better way to do that than to do another Ironman?  For me I’m guessing an Ironman should take approximately twice as long as it will take to finish the Ultra Beast.  And as it happens Ironman Wisconsin is exactly 13 days before the Ultra Beast in September.  Sounds like the perfect, last long training day before I set my sights on the muddy mountains of Vermont.  Who knows maybe I’ll try to go unsupported and carry all my fuel and water on the run to emulate the Ultra Beast?  Nah, that is just crazy talk.  But seriously finishing an Ironman by itself is no joke.  I know, I bonked and DNF’ed the last one I entered 2 years ago.  I don’t plan on repeating that performance.  Instead, I plan on finishing the Ironman to have fun, race hard and prepare myself both physically and mentally to compete in the Spartan Ultra Beast.

So that’s it.  I’m a runner, triathlete, obstacle racer and Spartan that is dead set on taming the Ultra Beast in Killington this September.  My logic is simple.  I figure if I can handle 140.6 miles of Ironman swimming, cycling and running on Sept. 9^th than I should have enough gas in the tank to finish a grueling 26.2 miles of untamed Ultra Beast on September 22^nd.  And if I don’t, then you can carry me home on my shield.

Arooo!

If you find yourself on Cape Cod this summer and need someone to train with shoot me an email or send me a message on Facebook.  I’m always up for an adventure!

Tags: andy weinberg, ironman, Peak Ultra, Spartan Ultra Beast

by Carrie Adams

Growing up in Peoria, IL, Andy Weinberg, 41, always loved the water.  He swam competitively in high school and college, and when he did his first triathlon in high school, he fell in love.  At the time there weren’t many people doing them, and after college Andy spent a couple years really hitting the triathlon circuit.  He burnt out with swimming after a few years and decided to focus on running instead.  Admittedly never “super-fast,” he trained consistently and did 11 marathons in one year alone.

Then, after running into a hometown acquaintance at an event who told him about ultra-marathons, Andy caught the bug.  He has now completed over 40 ultras, mostly 50-mile and 100-mile distances.  Through the challenge of running extreme distances, Andy learned what it felt like to push himself and succeed.  Of course it wasn’t long until he had to try an Ironman, a double Ironman, even a triple.

Weinberg met Joe DeSena through mutual friends in 2005 where they completed the Vermont 100.  When Andy came back to Vermont for an all-night snowshoe, the two soon found themselves talking about how racers can become “soft” because they always know what to expect.  “An ultra isn’t an easy race, but when you know it’s 100 miles, you can train for that.  You can prepare for that,” Andy said.  He and Joe spent the night talking about a new kind of race.  A race in which participants wouldn’t know when it would start or finish, or even what the race would consist of.  In other words, a race that no one can train for.  Racers would simply need to summon the courage and show up.  So the Death Race was born.  Andy began putting on races in Vermont with Joe and three years later he moved his family to Vermont to teach and race direct full time.  (By the way, he biked the 1200 miles from Peoria to VT in seven days, mainly because his friends said he couldn’t.)

The Spartan Race is born out of the same spirit.  The Death Race is the most extreme and designed for only the most extreme athletes but Spartan isn’t a walk in the park.  It’s there to attract serious athletes who want to compete.   Andy says, “Spartan Race is unique because the team involved, the whole company is athletes.  They run races, they’ve traveled the world, they know racing and they know athletes.  Most of the other obstacle races can’t say that.  And Spartan events are races… not parties.  It’s about going as hard as you can.”  On a personal level, Weinberg feels that Spartan Races play a role in preventing illness by inspiring people to get off the couch and get active. “Our nation is at its absolute worst place.  Childhood obesity and diabetes are both preventable as long as you make good choices.  You just have to get out there and exercise a bit.  Why not let Spartan help you get there?”

Tags: andy weinberg, spartan death race

by Carrie Adams

Apparently, MUD is the order of the season when it comes to Spartan Race and it came in mass quantities at our Chicago Spartan Sprint at Insane Terrain Park in Marseilles, IL.  With a night Hurricane Heat Friday the 4th and a full day of over 4,000 runners Saturday October 15th complete with PINK touches for Chicagoland Susan G. Komen, the course was rocking and the runners were rolling (in mud)! 

The Hurricane Heat hit new levels of insanity for our 100 participants. Joined by Spartan Race founders Joe D, Andy Weinberg, Mike Morris and staffers Shonda Morris, myself and Tom McCormack we faced obstacles, team challenges and memorization in the chilly, cold, and wet Illinois night. 

Race day went off without a hitch and the nine time champion Hobie Call, 34, took top spot with a time of 40:47.  He was followed by Brakken Kraker, 24 with a time of 44:45, and Elliot Megquier, 23 rounded out the top three with an impressive 46:20 time.  On the women’s side, Erin Fort, 30 finished in 1:04 for first place and Trese McNinch, 29 took second place with a time of 1:06:59 and Lynn Lena, 40 finished third with a 1:10:43 final time.  Here is a link to complete unofficial results.  Official are being finalized now.  http://www.j-chipusa.com/results.php?eventid=8372&p=

The course boasted gnarly, technical hills and thick mud from recent rains.  The barbed wire crawl that was split by an 8 foot wall and rope climb pit were unique elements from our RD Mike Morris and Course Designer Russell Cohen.  Natural features of the course included several moats, single tracks, and of course the MUD.  Thick, sticky, and heavy, the mud claimed many a shoe and even a few pairs of pants on race day.  Hot food included TWO roasted pigs, and there was plenty of beer on hand for racers and fans. 

The Midwest introduced us to some brand new kinds of muddy bliss!  Positioned near the spectators was the slippery wall and spear throw, one of our more popular obstacles.  (Tip: Think large dart when you throw our homemade spears.)  Spectators were able to take on a Spartan time trial including walls, spear throwing of their own and the kids had a rad course that took them through the showers before chucking pink balloons at our pugil wielding Spartan Gladiator!  

Pink was a common theme of the day, featured pink obstacles, merchandise, and even an 11:30 survivor’s heat of Breast Cancer survivors with donated pink gloves and pink hairspray.  Even the event medals were unique – our traditional Spartan red medal encircled with a pink ribbon in recognition of Breast Cancer awareness month and Chicagoland Susan G. Komen.  Check out our FB event pictures!  Click HERE.  And NO worries!  Nuvision Action Image will have the official images up for grabs in just a few days so get ready! 

For our first time in the Midwest, we sure had a great time!   If you missed your chance to get some Spartan Gear, head over to our online store and order something to wear proudly after your amazing finishes on Saturday!

A big thanks to our volunteers for their help on race day with all the details!  Many more stories about our amazing event in Staten Island, including a wrap-up on Spartan Radio Tuesday night at 10PM/9PM Central time.  From everyone at Spartan Race, we would just want to THANK our athletes and their family and friends for coming out to spend the day with Spartan Race.  We can’t wait to be back in the Midwest in 2012… but for a SUPER Spartan next time! 

Want to know what it feels like to call yourself a Spartan?  Get registered.  You’ll know at the finish line.

Thank you to all our amazing sponsors who helped make the Midwest fantastic!  Air National Guard, Reebok, Powerade, Zanfel, Monster, Museum Replicas! 

Tags: Air National Guard, andy weinberg, chicagoland susan g. komen, joe desena, midwest spartan, Mike Morris, museum replicas

by Carrie Adams

Spartan Race’s email/database guru and overall rad guy, Jason Jaksetic is heading off this weekend to compete in a Double Ironman in Virginia.  Yes, double Ironman triathlons exist.  As if a single were not enough!  There’s triples and Deca’s but that’s for another day.  One of Spartan’s Founders and Death Race Race Director Andy Weinberg will also be competing. 

Interesting, though, is that this double Ironman triathlon is Jason’s warm up for a triple ironman distance triathlon this December called EpicMan where he will attempt to swim 7.2 miles, bike 336 miles, and run 78.6 miles.  Non stop – before the 60 hour time limit expires on New Years.

Jason has just announced that he will be racing EpicMan in order to benefit the Pittsfield Hurricane Relief Fund for his beloved town of Pittsfield that was so devastated by Hurricane Irene.  You may remember our coverage of Pittsfield on this blog which is also home of Spartan Race and the Death Race.

We wish Jason and Andy luck on their journey this weekend! 

The follow was posted in his blog that can be found at www.JasonJaksetic.com

I am wrapping up my season, and 2011 too, for that matter, with what might be the greatest Triathlon spectacle I’ve heard of since I was first captivated by the Ironman World Championships at the fable location simply termed “Kona”.  The privilege of participating in EpicMan on December 29^th, still keeps me up in night in anticipation.

7.2 mile swim, 336 mile bike, and a 78.6 mile run.  Non Stop.  On the island of Oahu.  The cut off time…New Years – 60 hours after the start.  24 competitors to throw down and see who can get it done first.

Getting to the starting line of this event will be in no small part owed to the town of Pittsfield, Vermont where I have lived and trained all of this 2011 season.  And as I exit 2011 and head to 2012 I want to give something back to the town that stood vigil over my runs through the mountains.  The community here is something deeper than I’ve known elsewhere.  And this showed most prominently when Pittsfield was recently struck by Hurricane Irene.

I still pass the collapsed houses and properties on my rides and runs.  I still can’t ride without considerable detours and construction plaguing the trip.  I’ve seen resolve and strength in the people of Vermont that far outshines anything that I’ve encountered.  I am in admiration.

This is why I will be competing in EpicMan to raise money for The Pittsfield Hurricane Relief Fund, www.pittsfieldhurricanerelief.org, in an effort to help this town to which I owe so much.

So as I head into the Double Ironman this weekend in VA and as I ready for Epicman in December I am going to continue to point everyone to: www.pittsfieldhurricanerelief.org.  There was an outpouring of support immediately after the hurricane, but this needs to continue.  Just like an extreme endurance event, focus and persistence are required.  We still have a long way to go to get back to where we were.

This is why I’m dedicating my racing of Epicman to raising money for www.pittsfieldhurricanerelief.org. Please contribute directly on that site or contact me as JasonJ@SpartanRace.com if you can help in any other way.

Tags: andy weinberg, epicman, Jason Jaksetic, Jason Lester

by Carrie Adams

Grad student Eric Skocaj tried the Death Race two years ago and “failed miserably.”  The now 25 year old from Illnois explains, “I wasn’t training for it, I was talked into it by Andy [Weinberg] and so this time… well, I was talked into doing it again.”  Eric seems conflicted before beginning the event, “I’m not entirely confident I’ll finish it if I’m really honest. I’m going to give it my all, you know, go as long as I can.”  In the fist attempt he didn’t make it too far into the race before his race was over.  “I was under-prepared. I went in with the wrong mentality. Rather than go in and have a good time. I went in angry.”  On one of the first grueling tasks, the river run he continually fell and slipped his way down the river and the trauma to his legs and the frustration made him miss the time cut-off.

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Tags: andy weinberg, eric skocaj

by Carrie Adams

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde

Ray Morvan

Recently, Spartan Race has been covering profiles of the awe-inspiring individuals taking part in the Spartan Death Race.  An endurance event like no other on the planet that has been taking place every year in Pittsfield since 2005.  It’s an event aimed at giving competitors the ultimate challenge in the Green Mountains of Vermont and an opportunity for those brave enough to sign up the chance to find themselves and redefine their lives in a backdrop of unforeseeable challenges.  It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to show that overcoming is worth the effort required to achieve it and being alive is a state of being where death is just a state of mind.

Ax in hand, Ray Morvan, now 48, hacked away at the stump in the ground for over an hour, using his hands at various points to dig and pry at the roots of the stubborn stump to extract it from the ground.  He’d removed his bib already that was previously pinned to it and now he worked at the stubborn, heavy stump expertly with his ax.  His reward for the task – to carry the heavy piece of wood for the rest of the day.  He would DNF that race at the 11 hour mark – his first attempt at the race in the summer of 2009.

In the winter race the following year, he was told to put together a wheel barrow and then cart 12 logs of firewood up the mountain in deep snow.  With no easy way to push the wheelbarrow in the drifts of snow, he had to improvise in order to navigate the trail with  the heavy logs and cumbersome wheelbarrow to reach the summit.  It was a daunting task.

This summer marks the fifth race for the veteran Death Racer, a mortgage banker from Springfield, VT.  His first attempt, he weighed in at just about 240 pounds and had recently left rehab for treatment of a drug and alcohol addiction.  He was admittedly not ready and when he left at the 11 hour mark, a spark had been ignited.  For a man who nearly died in 2002  from appendicitis and has endured more than a dozen abdominal surgeries since, he’s no stranger to death and he plans on competing in the race until they won’t let him anymore.

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Tags: andrew butterfield, andy weinberg, bryan selm, death race, eric skocaj, jack cary, Joe Decker, joe desena, john mcevoy, kat dunnigan, lisa madden, neil preston, ray morvan, rebecca hansen

by Carrie Adams

The McNaughton

The McNaughton is an Ultra Trail Run consisting of a rugged 10-mile loop in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Runners will repeat the loops 3, 10, 15, 20, or 50 times, depending on if they are competing in the 30, 100, 150, 200, or 500 mile race.  The loop has 2400 vertical feet of elevation gain, so the 30 miler will feature 7,200 ft; the 100 miler will feature 24,000 ft; the 150 miler will feature 36,000 ft; the 200 miler will feature 48,000 ft; and the 500 miler will feature 120,000 ft of elevation change.

The race is hosted by Spartan’s sister company, Peak Races, which puts on a variety of ultra-distance events, including cycling races, trail ultras, and the infamous Death Race on June 24^th 2011 (part of the Spartan Race series.)  Additional races include a 100 mile snowshoe race (if you’re not up to that, you can opt for a marathon, half-marathon, and 10K snowshoe on that same weekend.)   In March, Spartan’s own Jason Jaksetic aka The Barn Beast competed in the 100 mile snowshoe and recounted his inspiring successful completion of the brutal race on his blog. There are also cycling events and trail ultras put on by Peak Races include the McNaughton Ultra – which started this week.

The 500 milers began their journey earlier in the week.  Their race has a 198 hour time limit (just over 8 days.)  The other races all begin this upcoming week.

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Tags: 100-mile snowshoe, andy weinberg, Barn Beast, carrie adams, death race, founding few, Green Mountains, Jason Jaksetic, McNaughton Ultra, peak races, Spartan Facebook, Spartan Races, Spartan Strong, Spartan Twitter, vermont

Reaching New Peaks: Andy Weinberg

by Carrie Adams

Growing up in Peoria, IL, Andy Weinberg, 41, always loved the water.  He swam competitively in high school and college, and when he did his first triathlon in high school, he fell in love.  At the time there weren’t many people doing them, and after college Andy spent a couple years really hitting the triathlon circuit.  He burnt out with swimming after a few years and decided to focus on running instead.  Admittedly never “super-fast,” he trained consistently and did 11 marathons in one year alone.

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Tags: andy weinberg, carrie adams, death race, founding few, ironman, joe desena, marathon, spartan race, swimming, triathlon, ultramarathon, vermont, vermont 100, vt