RACE LIKE A SPARTAN. Meet the world’s leading obstacle course series, plus tips to get you across the finish line

Spartan. It’s a sexy word. One that invokes images of chiseled abs glistening with oil, as Gerard Butler bellows, “This is Sparta!” In the movie 300, Butler, or King Leonidas, and his men waged an epic battle against invading Persians at the Pass of Thermopylae, all 300 sacrificing their lives for one moment of victory.

Our world has come a long way since 480 B.C. We’ve exchanged hunting for grocery stores, hikes through woods for smooth asphalt roads. Where we once scaled mountains and fought for our lives, we now lounge in comfy living rooms, watching actors portray the heroes who battled history’s legions. We’ve forgotten our innate human abilities and desires.

The Spartan Race is here to remind us.

More Than a Race, It’s a Lifestyle

The original “founding few” of today’s Spartan dynasty include seven ultra-athletes and a former Royal Marine. Joining together in 2009, their mission was to renew our excitement in running trails, crawling through mud, scrambling up hills, and facing adversity—all while competing for time against like-minded men and women on an environmentally friendly course.

They held the first Spartan Race in Burlington, Vermont, in 2009. The 5-kilometre extravaganza incorporated trails, water, mud, and fire. A Canadian version followed in 2010, and by 2011 the world’s leading obstacle course race series had attracted more than a quarter million participants in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. Its popularity continues to grow.

According to Canada’s Spartan Race Sponsorship and Operations Advisor, Phil Gribbin, four additional international markets are online for 2013: Slovakia, India, Australia, and Mexico. “Spartan Race has had to hold back on expansion because it’s becoming so big,” says Gribbin. “You have to manage your growth. Next year there will be  more countries added. It really has become an international brand.”

Spartan Races come in three varieties: The Spartan Sprint, a 5-kilometre race with more than 15 obstacles designed to test agility; the Super Spartan, a 10+ kilometre  race with more than 20 obstacles to test endurance; and the Spartan Beast, featuring more than 20 kilometres of trail and 25 or more obstacles, also known as ‘the obstacle race from hell.’For those who find the Beast lacking, there’s the Spartan Death Race, a 48-hour adventure with a 10% completion rate.

Season passes are available for racers who want to complete the trifecta. “We schedule the Sprints first and then the Supers, with the Beasts scheduled last so that people can work up to them, training along the way,” Gribbin says. “More people took advantage of it this year. We saw quite a bit of movement between the events.”