by Carrie Adams

Women have always been a vital part of the Death Race history and DNA.  The women who come to the Death Race are tough, strong, capable, and smart.  Add to that line-up the undeniably bad ass Ms. Lynn Lena.  Sporting a new full sleeve of ink on the heels of her recent 41st birthday, Lena is not your typical woman by any measure. 

Like many in the DR line-up, Lynn has been training for and placing in many of the past Spartan Races, often after taking on a grueling Hurricane Heat before hand.  Her toughness is matched by her sense of humor, her kindness and generosity with fellow racers, her affection, and her supportive nature. 

Lena, a Vermonter herself is heading up to Amee Farm  in June for the Death Race and she isn’t all nerves.  “I can’t wait!”  She told me with excitement. 

“I’m not feeling nerves or fear I’m just looking forward to taking it on and pushing through it one task at a time,” she continued. 

Strikingly beautiful and strong, Lena, is a competitor.  She took home third place in the Chicago Spartan Race and the Glen Rose competitive heat saw her taking home another trophy.  She keeps in shape by training hard, teaching boot camps, taking regular weighted hikes, and traveling to endurance challenges across the country, she’s preparing for what the Death Race will expose her to and she has no misconceptions of what awaits.   “I know without a doubt it will be the most grueling experience I will ever have the pleasure of taking on, and I will be honored to experience it with amazing people by my side.”

A member of the Spartan Hurricane Heat inspired group the Storm Chasers, Lena has inspired women and men with her commitment to seeing things through and getting the job done. 

Lena says, “I work hard everyday trying to instill the importance of self belief in people who take my BOOTCAMP and I can’t wait to show them the power of it when put into action.” 

Thoughtful and deliberate, she is preparing herself for what lies ahead physically without forgetting about the mental side of the challenge.  When asked to reflect on the experiences she’s about to face and what she’ll do when faced with the darkness, the hurt, the fatigue she says, “Don’t quit, can’t fail.” 

Tags: death race, hurrican heat, Lynn Lena, Storm Chasers

What’s in Spartan Race DNA?

We are a different kind of competitive event. Why do I say that? The Spartan Race series was born from the Death Race and as such, it is meant to emulate life and help us, “the founders“, find extraordinary people that inspire us as well others. Therefore, our job has evolved into one where we constantly push people beyond their limits. This is not only done through physical challenges, but also mental challenges, many of which are not so obvious. 

The Hurricane Heat is a perfect example. When Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast in 2011, it was a natural disaster that shut many of us down and in doing so, frustrated the shix out of people. It’s quite obvious that Spartan Race aims to do just that at every event… frustrate and attempt to “break” people. Why? Because the survivors and people that push on, no matter what is being asked of them… inspire themselves, people around them, and the rest of the world. That is what we are about. 

The gear list, whether it is extensive or “old school”, is not intended to prepare you for every scenario. It’s intended to get you thinking. As in real life, we can never truly be ready for every situation, but we can train ourselves on how to react when faced with adversity. It’s how you respond in these situations that determines whether or not you are a true Spartan. Annoying co-workers, relationship troubles, financial problems, and disease can only be conquered if you have the right attitude.

Assess the situation.

Remain calm.

Make a decision.

Keep charging forward.

That’s what Spartans do.

The Hurricane Heat takes Spartan Race to the next level, and we are thrilled that we have the opportunity to spend time with a bunch of like minded individuals willing to get outside, get dirty, and sweat doing things that are so unorthodox. 

Can’t wait to see you out there again!

To register for an upcoming Hurricane Heat, visit our event pages and get signed up for your event!  They will be held at every US race in 2012. 

Tags: hurrican heat, joe desena

by Carrie Adams

November 19, 2011 was our largest California race event to date.  With over 4,600 runners, over 4,000 spectators and our first ever night heat option, the festival grounds were jumping from 5 A.M.’s Hurricane Heat to well after 6 PM in the dark foothills of Malibu.  The 100 or so Hurricane Heaters arrived early and were put through nearly three and a half hours of what has become a team-building challenge that’s part mini-Death Race Camp and part obstacle race.  Without bibs or chips the runners took off early off-site and crawled through culverts, swam through ponds, faced the barbed wire, mud, and obstacles of part of Sprint Course in a unique event that will be offered at all future Spartan Races for anyone brave enough to take it on!   Register for Texas’s Hurricane Heat HERE and Temecula HERE. 

Competitive heats set off at 8 A.M. and 8:30 A.M. and as he’s done at every other Spartan Sprint he’s taken on this year, Hobie Call took home the top spot in 27:52 minutes followed by Chris Rutz, 42 of Scottsdale who finished in 33:07 and rounding out the top three was Mike Anderson, 41 of Malibu with a time of 33:14.  The women represented as well!  Jenny Tobin, 43 of Boise, ID took top spot with 36:46, followed by Irene Call (Hobie’s wife), 36 of South Jordan, UT with a time of 40:05 and Rachel McDermott, 27 of Los Angeles, CA took third with a time of 44:08.  Here’s the day’s results!

The kids race was at 12:15 and 100% of the Kid’s Course proceeds go to the Rod Dixon Kid’s Marathon Foundation and was also a crowd pleaser with almost 300 Spartans-in-training taking part and taking home their own medals for their Spartan glory.

Some familiar faces were onsite including Jack Osbourne of MTV reality television fame.  Also,  Dan Evans of Biggest Loser Season Five ran with his team at 3 PM and Team Orange supporting Fit Kids and finished with big smiles and maybe a few bruises!  He even set up and did a live set featuring some of the new music off of his latest album.  You can catch his interview from Spartan Radio last week HERE.   Check out the Thanksgiving special THIS Wednesday from 9PM EDT – 11PM EDT  November 23, 2011 to see a segment of Biggest Loser alum’s racing in Staten Island!

The Calamigos Ranch venue with it’s jagged rises and bush terrain made this course a gnarly and challenging Spartan Sprint.  The upward barb wire crawl had a rocky base and the swamp water was a cold surprise for the Malibu runners in the mild temperatures of the day.  Some single track trails and steep gradients on the running sections made the course challenging and dynamic. 

Live music made the day lots of fun for racers and included DJ Notorious Jen, Nylon Pink, Dread Daze, Ok Here’s The Plan,Grandpa’s Nuts, The Tulips, Band of Bigfoot, Reggae Motion, The Magnatones, All Over, The Originalities, Andrew & Andrew.

The best views of the day were arguably during the night heat as the sun set behind the foothills and the green glow sticks led runners through the dark and back to the finish line headlamps on full blast.  Hobie Call even jumped in and ran with the night heat for his second lap of the day.  With the lights of Malibu visible in the valley runners rose high into the darkening skies and technical landscape, and the live music at times close enough to hear.  Looking across the valley, the headlamps of earlier night wave runners were visible bobbing in the darkness. 

We’re returning to California January 28th with our Super Spartan!  Click HERE for the Race and Hurricane Heat registration.

It was a memorable day in a great venue.  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 Malibu, 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 loved having almost 5,000 athletes and over 3,000 Spectators come rock it with us on Saturday. 

Tags: Biggest Loser, calamigos ranch, hobie call, hurrican heat, irene call, jack osbourne, Malibu, spartan sprint