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This was my fourth year in a row participating and running the Killington Beast on both Saturday & Sunday.

• Registration and Festival:

Now that Spartan USA is using the bar-code registration system, registration has been running much faster and smoother and this weekend wasn’t any different! In addition, they had us sign a screen and not have to complete a paper waiver which kicked ass! The Festival area was setup with most of the booths and vendors next to each other, except for bag check, which was placed way over in China (lol).

• Pre-race MC: 

The pre-race MC, did an okay job, but unfortunately like most Spartan MC’s, they sound a little generic and like a broken record. The pre-race MC’s as of late have been at best average for Spartan America.

• The Course:

This year’s Beast course was a little over 14 miles and as always, included the always wonderful final death march to the top of Killington. What I did really like about this year, was how the course designer (Norm no longer works for Spartan) used the wooded portions of the mountain and it didn’t just seem like the same ankle biting terrain most of the day going both up and down. This course was designed to be less straight up the mountain than previous years and I personally really enjoyed that.

The swim was brought back yet again and it was a perfect weather weekend for a nice swim! This year’s course started out with a very short trail up and then turned and headed down the mountain, which I personally was happy about, anytime I am not going straight up at Killington, I am happy. I couldn’t run down the trails as fast as I am accustomed to, but it was still awesome to know we were shedding distance from the overall distance and not having to work that hard to do it!

The first obstacle of the day came fast and it was Overwalls, and then after another short sprint down the mountain it was time for Hurdles. About the same gap in the distance ahead came the next obstacle, the brutally tough Hay Wall! The course made a right turn and we ran for a little while before making our way to Over-Under-Thru (O-U-T) and a short distance after came the Monkey Bars.

At this point, the course had a longer trail sprint and eventually made its way to the Barbed Wire crawl # 1, the first crawl wasn’t that long, but it did go up the mountain so rolling wasn’t that easy and I had to crawl! After a short sprint, it was time for the Herc Hoist, which I always look forward to because for a larger guy like me, it’s nice and easy. A very short distance ahead came Inverted Walls and just after that came Plate Drag. The course headed down at this point and continued for a longer sprint and up next was Z-Walls and just after we headed over to the Bridge, which was nice and easy. It was time for the swim.

It was time for the swim and I hate to complain, but, yet again, the company Spartan hired to keep racers safe while in the water did not have near enough rescue personnel in the water and it appeared a lot of the team they brought with them just sat on the side of the water doing nothing. They had younger teens in kayaks that while at least I was watching them on both Saturday & Sunday didn’t seem to be doing a good job of paying attention to the racers in the water. I personally didn’t have to rescue anyone this year, but I did hear from at least one friend that she had to help a struggling racer because the rescue team was oblivious to the person struggling. I talked to the head of the team after the event and his attitude was that racers are all wearing PFD’s (life vests), so everyone is nice and safe and no one was really at risk of drowning. I personally can tell you that is not true, wearing a PFD the wrong way and either being a poor swimmer or having something like cramping while doing the swim can result in swimmers drowning easier with a PFD on. I really hope that Spartan will always keep the swim, but head my warnings and advice and get a true professional team for the future.

The swim and Tarzan swing were as always, a very challenging part of the course and it was nice to spend some time in the water and then get out and head back up the mountain! At this point, we headed into a wooded section of the mountain and it was over a mile before we came to the next obstacle, Rolling Mud, which I as always saw more racers completely skipping than doing, I love the water even if it smells and is muddy so I look forward to this one! The next obstacle, Tyrolean Traverse was just up ahead, just after a water station and just after the Tyro, came Barbed Wire Crawl # 2, this crawl was longer, but I could roll through most of this one. I would love to see Spartan to make one modification of this course and any others, please place the water station just after the Barbed Wire Crawl rather than just before as I lose a lot of the water in my hydration from the crawl (lol).

It was time for another long-distance sprint up the mountain and we entered the land of the Unicorns, because that is how I felt sometimes when we finally came to an obstacle. At the top of the mountain and starting to head down came the next few obstacles: Bender, 8-foot wall, Atlas Carry and Stairway to Sparta (my pal Raymond seemed to help a bunch of racers on this one). It was now time for another long-distance sprint down the mountain and up next was Sandbag Carry # 1, this carry wasn’t so bad. The course now made its way near the festival area and it was time for Twister.

At this point, it was time to start the dreaded death march up the mountain and it’s funny how for at least me, it was much more difficult on Saturday than Sunday. Once at the top of the mountain, we headed back down for a short distance up next was the rope climb, this also was the point that on Sunday, the racers running the Sprint were on the course again with us, so it was crowded on the way back down. The trail down was pretty technical at times and sketchy, so a lot of the racers were going slower and taking it safe. The next few obstacles on the way down were: Vertical Cargo Net, 7-foot wall, a second easier Sandbag Carry, and then up ahead came the Bucket Brigade from hell!!

The Bucket Brigade carry, was long, on a steeper climb, and brutal! I was happy to complete the Carry a know the finish was a short distance ahead. The course made its way to the festival area and the final obstacles were: The Multi-Rig, Slip Wall, Spear Toss (nailed it dead middle both days), Olympus, A-Frame Cargo Net, and the always brutal Fire Jump!

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

This was one of my favorite Killington courses so far and the weather was amazing and perfect. The staff/volunteers were awesome all weekend, the MC was average, the bling is the same as always, I am rating the event/course 4.8 out of 5 stars. I am not sure I am going to do Killington again next year, time will tell.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)