Once in a while, Spartan does a Trifecta weekend. This consists of a Beast race on Saturday, then a Super Sunday morning, followed by a Sprint right after. The Beast is about 14 miles, the Super is between 9 and 10 miles, and the Sprint is 4 to 5.

This is a great opportunity to quickly join the Trifecta Tribe for the year. It gives you the chance to push your endurance and see how much you can handle. Also if you’re training for an Ultra, this can be a great way to see how your body reacts.

Because of the distances, you will be doing many of the same obstacles in each race. Some specific obstacles will only be in the Beast. Likewise the Super will have obstacles that the Sprint will end up not having.

Since the Beast was a North American championship race, they made the Beast race harder than normal. There were 3 carries in the race – Log, Sandbag, and Bucket. There were 3 different barbed wire crawls. They had a short loop for a swim and 35 plus obstacles, so it was not going to be an easy race.

The atmosphere for this race was amazing! It FELT like a championship race. Even at Open House on Friday, everyone was pumped and excited to race! The course was on a Boy Scout reserve, so the parking lot was a good mile from the actual venue location. Even with VIP parking, it was a hike to get in. There was not really anything Spartan could do about that.

However, the venue was amazing. Well laid out and lots of obstacles to see. The start had Herc Hoist and Rope Climb followed by Barbed Wire, Monkey Twister Monkey, followed by more Barbed Wire. The course ended with Olympus, A-Frame, and Multi-Rig. So there were lots of action spots for the spectators to see.

Another unique feature were the Camelbak refill stations all over the venue. With the Boy Scout activities that go on there, they have plenty of spots setup for water refueling. That was a nice touch. Also the changing area and hoses had these plastic plates over the grass and rocks. So it was much easier to shower off and change. Most races you’re showering and changing on gravel and rocks.

I had a few small issues with the venue. First, there was only one food truck, so choices were limited. There should’ve had been more, especially with the amount of people. There was only one bridge to the start line because the other bridge was basically part of the kids race. I’m not sure who thought that was a good idea but it led to a lot of people walking onto the kids course by accident. Also, the port a potties were never changed after Saturday, so come Sunday those things were ripe! With the volume of people that were coming in, I feel like they should have had some fresh ones brought in.

I’m not going to review each obstacle since I’ve done that several times in multiple posts. Instead, I’ll just touch on some highlights and lowlights.

The starting line announcer made it a point to go over the rules and also point out the obstacles that are mandatory each day. He also pointed out which obstacles can be tried more than once (like Rope Climb and Herc Hoist). I like that he did that and I hope it happens at every race since some people seem to be confused about the rules.

Twister was only 2 sections, like it is in Europe. It was one of the only “easier” obstacles. There were 3 carries (Log, Sandbag, then Bucket). There were also 3 barbed wire crawls, and they were all fairly long. The swim was a loop you had to swim, it was too deep to walk in. The water however was refreshing. Rope Climb was the nice thick ropes, not the thin ones like Asheville had.

Tyro Traverse was really long, much longer than I had ever seen before. I’m thinking they did that on purpose because it was a championship race.

Monkey Twister Monkey was the only new obstacle. It is what it sounds like- a section of monkey bars followed by a section of twister, followed by a section of monkey bars. This was a fun change from the norm and it really switched things up for the people who do twister backwards. I do both obstacles facing forward so I had no issues.

Having Multi-Rig as the last obstacle made it a lot of fun for spectators. Every time someone rang the bell, there were loud cheers from the crowd. The Beast Multi-Rig had rings, short ropes, more rings and then a long bar that was going up at an angle. The bell was high, you really had to work to get it!

I was disappointed there weren’t many photos from the Beast race. Photographers were only positioned in four locations. I feel like with there being 35+ obstacles, they should have used more.

There were an abundance of water stations however. I believe 10 in total. I felt like I was always at a water station. I never even finished the water that was in my pack from the start because I was drinking a cup at every station. My Camelbak felt unnecessary except for the fuel I was carrying, but I could have put that in my pockets.

The Super and the Sprint were obviously much easier. The biggest absences from the Beast were Swim, Tyro, and Log carry. Also there were no farmers carries, so your arms weren’t as worn out. Plus the distances were much shorter.

I did notice some issues that I saw on Sunday. First, the hay in the spear throw on Sunday was a joke. Most of it was falling out and a few of the sections had almost no hay in it at all. Unacceptable. Additionally at the Bucket Carry during the Super, a racer with an Age Group band on was doing burpees. When he was called out for it, the volunteer said they didn’t know that Bucket Carry was a mandatory obstacle. Wow. That’s a total fail right there.

Putting those small issues aside, this was an amazing race weekend! The energy and excitement were the highest I’ve seen in quite some time, and there were so many spectators at this event that it felt truly special. The venue and the views were just gorgeous. I already can’t wait to go back and do it all again!

Thanks again for reading. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions of a topic you would like for me to talk about, send me a message! I would love to hear your opinions!! AROO! 🦁👍🏽👍🏽