2018 Spartan World Championship - Lake Tahoe Beast

 “Basically I’ve been living the game of G.N.A.R my whole life”. That was what most of my thoughts were about this weekend. 

That course was brutal. Steve Hammond did not disappoint and earned his GNAR points on the BN double sandbag carry before the event. 

The race started with 3 Miles right towards the top of the mountain. We were running to where normal people take the tram to. Herc half was way up as a nice break to the grind. Then the climb continued to a high five from the Queen of Pain herself, Amelia Boone, as I was putting on my PFD for the 55F degree water swim that I flew by people in then over to the 1/4 mile bucket carry (121’ decent then gain) then up to the summit of 8200’ above sea level where we did the plate drag, atlas carry, barbed wire crawl then super cold dunk wall. At the summit we were right about the tree line so the wind was killer. A short run as fast as I could manage to spear man and twister barely able to feel my hands. I hopped up onto the starting block for twister the wind picked up and I turned away to keep the dust out of my face and got blown off the step the gusts were so strong. At that point I was for sure borderline hypothermic and wanting to descend by nope. The Armer and Sandbag carry stood in my way. 2x 60lb sandbags (120lbs total) and ~1/8 mile not flat loop were keeping me from getting out of the wind. Had to drop them twice on the way up. No idea why besides I did. Got just past the the half way and dropped them again. Took two breaths picked them up knowing I needed to do that or risk getting pulled. As I was going back down with the sandbags there were 3 guys huddled together trying to get warm; most likely medical was on the way. The carry was a big challenge and then add cold water and no protection from the wind and it was a warzone

I dropped my bags in the bucket and immediately started sprinting the technical downhill. 5 minutes into that I couldn’t have felt better. Flying down passing people just loving that run. Not cold at all anymore. 

At the bottom I was fully recovered and knew what was waiting for me in the village. Olympus then a short run to the larger A-Frame and rope climb then another short run over to Tryo and Ape Hanger. It was my first time seeing Ape Hanger and as much fun as it looked I was scared to attempt it first time on such and important race. Then the tire flip and Monkey with a Twist. I crushed every obstacle in the sequence and blew easily through Ape Hanger. They need to make that a standard obstacle. I was happy to get to Monkey with a Twist and not have to do the double 40lb (80lbs total) sandbag before it. Stopped and hugged the volunteer after that news and then moved through to the next 4.5 miles of the course that started with another hard climb. 

It was about 3 miles of uphill. Started easy and got progressively harder with the z walls in there to break it up. I remember looking at my watch and seeing that we were at 7250’ and knew we were going to about 7500’. Thinking we were on our last climb before the downhill i was upset to see another section of even steeper, rockier uphill but Stairway was at the top and that was the inflection point. A sprint once I hit the top and over the Stairway to Sparta.
Then came the 1.5 mile downhill. Knowing the 8’ Wall, Bender and a longer rig was all that stood in my way. I took off seeing my watch dip faster than a 7:00 pace on some of the open road sections making passed on the technical downhill. Breezed through the Wall and continued the downhill assault feeling some tightness in my left shoulder. Worried about a Lat cramp (especially after Toughest Midwest) I backed off slightly to not cramp it. I would have loved to know why that was my issue at that point in the race. I had a lead on everyone behind me so felt ok being ready for the rig.
From Stairway to the finish line with the obstacles took me about 12 minutes. The rig was 33% longer but only more spaced 3 rings a pipe and 4more rings. No issues and screamed across the finish to a hard earned medal and Fit Aid. A clean l, no penalty race with a time of 3:33:26. Just behind Jon Albon who crushed the course in 2:07:04 to become the Spartan World Champion in addition to SkyRunning Ultra World Champion this year. I finished 37th out of 62 in my age group, 112th out of 232 in the Men’s Overall AG and 123 out if 381 in total AG division. I was 222nd after the first climb and did most of my work on the back of the course. Planned my race and raced my plan. 

The whole event was amazing from being on site Friday for the athlete panels the big race on Saturday and Sunday for the National team races. Congrats to Team Canada winning both Men’s and Women’s titles. USA took both Silver medals. The energy in the Village was amazing. Tons of people and athletes from around the world to have fun and race against each other by running up a mountain, carrying heavy shit and doing obstacles. I can’t wait until next year and the thought of the Barkley Fall Classic and possibly Ultra WC in Iceland.