Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Spartan Race: Distance running with a difference

- Navneet Singh

Climbing over walls, wading through muck, crossing vertical cargo, crawling under barbed wire, hoisting weight with rope, carrying water buckets and sandbags, all these and many such obstacles while running three miles through forests. Welcome to the Spartan Race, a newfound endurance test-cum-stress buster that is catching the fancy of people world over.

Since the first Spartan Race organised in 2010 in Vermont, USA, eight years has seen it become a tour with 200 races every year spread across 30 countries spreading their mission: RIP 100 million people off the couch.

Running half-marathons, marathons and road races rose on the popularity charts a decade back. A feeling of fulfilment on finishing a run has pushed people from all walks of life to embrace marathons. The Spartan Race takes that a step further. Pushing one’s physical and mental limits — and discoverin­g that one is really capable of conquering a military bootcamp-like course the obstacle race provides, lifts spirits, say the Spartans.

Thus, it is no surprise that a constant endeavour is made to throw up fresh challenges, encouragin­g those seeking to push their fitness frontier and tapping its commercial potential. One must have watched many TV programmes on security forces tackling obstacle courses. Spartan Race, a roughly similar routine with graded degrees of difficulty put together by American Joe De Sana in 2007, is pretty much the same. It even led to a made-for-tv competitio­n on NBC in 2016.

Hong Kong is emerging as the hub for Spartan fitness enthusiast­s from the Asia-pacific region, as an event at Kam Tin Country Club last weekend highlighte­d. The course is designed to test the competitor­s’ endurance and strength. That it requires a good level of fitness, can be gauged from a mandatory five-foot wooden barrier the runner has to scale just to get to the starting line. The race is divided into three categories — Sprint, Super and Beast. There is an Ultra section for seasoned runners and also a children’s race model.

Finishing the Sprint race thrice gives one the tag of ‘The Ultimate Spartan Achievemen­t’, a perfect inducement to build up for the rigours of the next two levels. This correspond­ent was among a group that tested out the event by taking part in a promotiona­l race here, with barbed wire crawl, water jumps et al.

Alex Kandou, a Sprint participan­t here, said: “It is a combinatio­n of strength, endurance and technique — it challenges the body and mind. Since my first race in 2016, my outlook has changed and I look forward to achieving new goals. The course gives a chance to push myself beyond my limits,” said the entreprene­ur from Indonesia. “Since every course is different, the adrenaline rush helps me conquer difficult obstacles.”

 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Competitor­s participat­e in the Monkey Bar task during the Spartan Race Asiapacifi­c in Hong Kong last year.
GETTY IMAGES Competitor­s participat­e in the Monkey Bar task during the Spartan Race Asiapacifi­c in Hong Kong last year.

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