Remember when crawling in the mud under barbed wire, crossing over a river on rope, and jumping man-made walls was what cadets did to prove they had what it takes to be a Marine? Think An Officer and a Gentlemen. Well it turns out being tortured, er, tested by a combination of natural and artificial obstacles is all the rage. We're not sure when 5Ks (obviously, for wimps), marathons (hardly worth mentioning), and even triathlons (barely a challenge) became little more warm ups for actual exercise? It's hard to say, but the organizers of Spartan Race probably had something to do with it.
Come Saturday morning, hordes of fitness enthusiast and masochists will flock to Oleta River State Park to test their physical and mental toughness in a race not made for the faint of heart. Read on for details.
The sadists behind the latest stop of the Spartan Race self describe
themselves as "seven insane ultra athletes and a Royal Marine." Figures.
The race is rated a Super Spartan level event meaning there will be an
"8+ mile battlefield of insane mud running with 15+ obstacles to test
your physical strength and mental resolve." How about you just shoot us
in the knees and we'll call it even!
The good news is that the Super Spartan Level isn't even in the top two
most difficult categories for these freaks - those would be the Spartan
Beast and the ultimate Spartan Death Race (which we hear is lovely).
More good news. If you manage to finish the race you get a dunce cap.
Not really. You actually get a catered meal set to live music, which is
good background noise to mask the screams of pain as compound fractures
are reset.
The top three finishers for both males and females get a free entry to a
future Death Race. There's no information available on what happens to
those who don't finish. Because Cultist enjoys a little self-flagellation like most of us, we sent a writer to take part in the race
with a helmet cam. Look out for his post on Monday, that is if he makes
it out alive.
This is what's in store for our scribe:
The Spartan Race tour starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Oleta River State Park (3400 NE 163rd St., Sunny Isles Beach). You can register at the race for $115, $65 for military, and $10 for kids. For more information visit www.spartanrace.com.
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