On September 14 & 15, 2019, The BTG Spartan Team took to the course at the Spartan Race Whistler Sprint and Super, with a total of 16 athletes competing across three different categories / distances.
(All of our photos from the weekend can be found on our Obstacle Course Racing Gallery page)
Age Group Sprint (Coach JP & Kevin A)
The weekend kicked off at 08:15 Saturday with Kevin A joining me on the course for the Age Group Sprint race. It was a wet, rainy morning, and the obstacles were pretty slick - a theme that would stick around all weekend.
I failed at the fifth obstacle, the Multi-Rig, while Kevin rocked it, so we lost touch with each other pretty early on. Kevin’s QUICK on the trails so the chance of me catching him was slim, and I knew I had at least two more races to run over the weekend, so I backed off my pace a little to save my legs.
I managed to nail all the other obstacles except the Monkey Bars (the second last obstacle), but I tweaked my lower back / hip a little doing my burpees there.
In the end, it was a pretty solid finish for both of us, and I’m pretty sure Kev’s got the Spartan bug and will be back to run again next year!
Kevin A - 1:02:09
Coach JP - 1:11:00
Open Sprint (Coach JP, Raina S, Anita S, Anne C, Helen S, Lewis W, Madyline R, Matt M & Shelley H)
We assembled a great group to run the Open Sprint at 12:00 Saturday, with nine runners including myself taking part. The big climb at the start of the course spread our group out a bit, with two main groups emerging to run the remainder of the course, and Matt M running solo in between.
The lead group of Anita S, Lewis W and Shelley H set a solid pace over the course, finishing with a time around 1:35:00.
Matt M joined up with a “race friend” on the course (as often happens with the Spartan Open!), and had lots of fun, finishing not far off the lead group with a time of 1:39:44.
Myself, my super-wifey Raina, Anne C, Helen S, and Madyline R made up the second group, and we had a great time helping each other through the course. Of special note was Madyline R absolutely CRUSHING the Multi-Rig, making it look easy. There are some great pics of her on the obstacle on the gallery page. We finished with a time around 2:04:30.
Group 1 - 1:35:00
Matt M - 1:39:44
Group 2 - 2:04:30
SPARTAN DINNER (Saturday Night)
We hosted a pasta dinner for all the team members who were up in Whistler for Saturday night, and had a great time hanging out with the crew and their families. As usual, we had way too much food…LOL!
Age Group Super (Coach JP)
With my back / hip still feeling really questionable when I woke up early Sunday morning, I opted not to run in my Age Group heat to ensure that I’d be able to run with the team in the Open heat at noon. In retrospect, that was absolutely the right decision. There is ZERO chance I could have run that course twice in a row…
Open Super (Coach JP, Alyssa M, Amber S, Hillary G, Katlin H, Megan B & Scott L)
We were among the last handful of people to take to the course on Sunday, and let me tell you, it was a WEIRD experience having the crew tearing down the course behind us as we made our way through…
Amber S unfortunately suffered with some knee issues almost right off the start, and had to drop out of the race at the second obstacle. After making sure she was OK, I took off to catch up to the rest of the team, who were three obstacles ahead of me on the course.
I managed to catch them pretty quickly after a VERY sketchy, but luckily successful, Multi-Rig. I had total blinders on trying to catch up, and got on the obstacle without noticing that the layout had changed since Saturday!
From there, we ground out a successful run over a TOUGH Whistler Super course. Scott L suffered a knee injury while completing the “Bender” obstacle which unfortunately slowed our pace for the remaining half of the course as he had to suffer through some steep descents. Scotty’s one of our Spartan Team O.G.’s, though, so quitting was never on option - he just gritted his teeth and kept moving forward.
BTG Team - 4:40:30
Overall, it was a pretty good weekend, despite the wet conditions. The vibe out on course was MUCH better than last year’s race at Seymour, with the volunteers and Spartan staff keeping everyone’s spirits high.
We had a ton of fun (as always) and have definitely hooked a number of new folks on Spartan racing, with several of the crew contemplating the 2020 race schedule to complete a Spartan Trifecta. ;)
If anyone’s interested in training or racing with us, feel free to contact me (Coach JP) and we’ll make it happen!