Spartan – Iceland Ultra World Championship 2018
Before I dive into the race I want to give major props to Ryan Atkins for suffering harder than any one of us and crushing the course for the win. He is not only a great competitor but a great human being and someone I look forward to competing with and crushing some trails with in the near future.
As for the race, the weather was actually much better than last year. It was milder, temperature wise with no rain or snow and the usual Iceland heavy winds. There really wasn’t one part of the course that I was cold in and the obstacles, without their sheets of ice from last year were far easier. The obstacles themselves were classic Spartan obstacles, most in the exact same places as last year with two major points of obstacle heavy sections. The direction of the course was the first tough part with the super steep part being the uphill and a very icy portion being the final part of the descent.
What made this race much harder than last year? The carries…from…hell! The first, was a not so bad sandbag carry but like last year the majority were frozen and heavier than usual. Then came the bucket carry, last year, the buckets were certainly not as heavy, with this year having rocks filled to the brim buckets and a much longer loop with steep sections. Finally, was hands down, one of the toughest sandbag carries ever. To get to this loop you had to climb up a steep ascent, then after grabbing your sandbag had to go down to an incredibly muddy section (atone point I sunk down to my hip and another lap, I had to help a poor girl who was stuck and freaking out!), then go through a stream to finally go up an incredibly steep ascent to finally back head down.
My race, along with my pit crew was already mentally taxing before we even left for Iceland. our family cat, Lucy, had been getting very sick. Then we received news that a close family member was rushed to the hospital the night before our flight. Together we got through this, but I believe it set us up for what was to already be a tough race. The race itself started out in a pretty great way again with Viking drums and a half-naked dude dressed up as a Spartan warrior. The initial part of the race was a 5k prologue through town where I sat back at a leisurely pace with Ryan and Jon. Once we got into course it was immediately all carries and obstacles open (which was also different from rolling obstacles last year). We stayed together running and power hiking up the mountain, followed by continuously falling on our asses running down the steep icy section. By the end of the lap I was in the top 4, but a snafu with my passport after doing my 30 burpees from missing the spear throw landed me in 7th place.
Following this first hiccup, I ran into my next lap as the sun already started to set. I went to put on my headlamp to find that the brand-new batteries were practically depleted. I spent the rest of that lap slowly running through the uneven terrain with little light. Finally, at the transition area, we were scrambling to fix both of my headlamps because none of the new batteries were working! Finally, my pit crew Cheryl Puello fixed my headlamp and sent me on my way, frustrated with what had just occurred.
A few laps after, I was told by one of the volunteers that I was in 6th place. I thought, “if I can chase down 5th before 6 hours then I can get one of the leader bibs and continue to climb up the ranks. After the next transition and another gear issue, this time with my strobe light, I was told that I was not a lap leader (top 5) and instead was 8th place! I was furious that I had fallen back, which with a race this long is NOT the right mindset to be in. After getting out of my head, I told myself, “this is a long race, race happy!” My goal from then on was to chase down the person with the lap leader bib!
My next lap, I came into the transition area to hear the announcer state that I was now in 5th place! This then led into the morning where my next transition, Cheryl said to me “you are now 4th and need to leave now because that right there is 3rd place!” I ran out of there to chase my competition to get a place on that podium! Unfortunately, my body had other plans. Later in that lap, after the mountain I started wheezing uncontrollably every time I tried to push the pace. I kept telling myself it’s nothing, but my lungs felt like they were on fire. I give major respect to the third-place winner because I could not catch up to him….
This race had left me with many emotions over this past week. Initially I was super proud (as I should be) to have come back and never given up, but as any other competitive athlete, I always have those, what ifs… I finally have come to terms with my results and I am eternally grateful to do what I do. I have two strong legs and a willing mind and body to go to places all over the world to compete in the most extreme of competitions and I am so thankful for all of that. Finally, I am thankful for my amazing pit crew of my fiance Cheryl and my daughter Jaelyn, thank you for putting up with my emotional roller coaster and taking care of me when I needed it most.
Article Written by: Joshua Fiore