It was a busy weekend at the Badminton estate, seeing two different OCR franchises run back to back on the same site. The day before saw Tough Mudder host their 5 and 10 mile races before overnight it changed into Spartan Race, ready to play host to an important race: the finale of the UK National Series.
What was going to be a one race day ended up being a three race day, taking on both distances, doing the Sprint twice, and if I could have, I’d have been out again supporting the other special events that were on. With an ambassador wave and the Women’s Empowerment Wave, along with the Spartan Hub, there was plenty to support from an ambassador perspective, along with another big thing that I was there to support.
I’ll stop stalling though and get into the swing of things!
Ambassador Duties
With everything all going on in one day, It was hard to be able to conduct ambassador duties this time round. Sadly, I didn’t have any time to be on the Spartan Hub nor was I able to take part in the ambassador wave.
To make up for this, I made sure to help people whenever I could during my open waves so that they could complete obstacles that they were struggling with, which was very rewarding to see them do.
How Did The Race Go?
Though it was only a one day event, I ended up running three races overall. After completing the National series sprint race, I decided to go out and complete a Beast to finish off a multitrifecta and then took part in a team wheelchair run over a second Sprint.
Sprint - National Series
This was the most prepared that I felt for a race all season. To actually be going into a race with a decent block of training behind me was a nice feeling. With that, the preparations that morning went relatively smoothly. I arrived in decent time, check in went well and I wasn’t rushing to finish my warm up like previous race weekends.
Approaching the start line, I saw that the field for this race was a lot stronger than the last race weekend on average. Though this did dampen my mood slightly about how well I could finish In the race, upon reflection, it gave me a great benchmark to see where I am against that calibre racer.
It was a quick start to the race with the front runners going off quickly. There was an ambition to stick with them but they were just too quick. So I settled into my position and had the ambition to see what I could do later on or capitalise on any mistakes.
After settling into a pace for the first mile, I tried to up the tempo for the next phase of the race. There was the hope of bridging the gap to the leaders but this just didn’t happen. they were just too strong for me this time and the weakness that I have on the shorter distances started to really show..
With me being unable to bridge the gap, I made sure to keep my race a clean one so there wasn’t any unnecessary time losses with penalties and kept me within reach of people should there be a slip up by them.
That’s what exactly happened at the end of the race.
The infamous spear throw and my usual nemesis. After losing a couple of positions I’m the last stretch before this obstacle, I needed a clean hit to be able to make the most of the opportunity to over take those in the penalty loop.
I set myself. Got my eye in. Threw the spear…
HIT!
Then there was a tease that it would drop out but it stopped much to my relief.
I didn’t hang around too long to celebrate as any advantage that I’d gained would disappear. It turns out that this hit gained me a couple of positions, helping me finish just inside the top 10.
A reasonable result given the strength on the field but not the results that I truly want. A race that I’m content with but want to do much better in the future. Again, great to see the benchmark.
UK National Series Final Position - Thoughts
My position in this race resulted in me finishing joint sixth in a three-way tie, just one point behind fifth place. However, based on the tiebreak rules I officially finished seventh.
My thoughts on this final position are that I am content. Yes, it is in the top 10 for the series which is higher than my initial goal of top 20 but I know full well that had I not made mistakes during the super, I could’ve had that fifth place at least.
I also feel that my injuries at the beginning of the year hindered my performances and could’ve left me in higher positions. Enough of the ifs and buts though, this just means that I have potential to achieve more next year, hopefully. I have to remember that this is my first year at this level and it’s a very different landscape compared to that of AG. This is the level I want to achieve at.
Beast - Open
This was mainly for me to complete my second trifecta of the year and get myself an extra medal and move closer to the next reward level at Sparta for lifetime Trifectas, with me now on 9 after this multitrifecta.
So I went out and used the opportunity to get a training run in for the mileage and class it as my long run for the week whilst being able to get some training time on obstacles.
Though it wasn’t a formal ambassador run, I made sure to use the time to help anybody that I saw out on course with any obstacles that they were struggling with, being able to see them overcome them. Always rewarding!
Oh and of course, it was a great opportunity to get some photos of me for the Instagram. I was going to use it for some video content but I wasn’t confident with taking my phone out on course whilst also being solo. An idea for the future though for sure, whether it be personal or in conjunction with my ambassador duties.
Sprint - Open
This run brought a different type of challenge. I wasn’t just running this on my own, l completed it as part of a team that was supporting a wheelchair based athlete. This brought a whole new challenge to a Spartan race. The main thing was that it was a fulfilling challenge and great to be able to support someone complete their own challenge.
No records were broken for this run apart from completing the run in the time laid out as a target.
Course Thoughts
One of the main pieces of feedback that I heard over the weekend about the course was about the layout. With the Sprint having a decent chunk of running at the beginning before going into obstacles, which weren’t the usual Over, Under, Through and 4ft walls, to some the vibe seemed a little off. Then with the Sprint being backloaded with a significant number of obstacles, there seems to be a few comments about it just being “off”.
As someone that works with the team that puts on Spartan and Tough Mudder races, I can sympathise with having to turn around the courses overnight as it was a Tough Mudder and Spartan back to back weekend. Personally, I didn’t find anything particularly wrong with the layout of the course and always see it as a different challenge each time. I find no issue with it being different each time and you just have to face whatever challenge is on. You’re never going to get the “perfect” course for your liking.
Like any obstacle, you have to assess what you’re coming up against at that moment in time and deal with it.
One thing that I and a few others would say was a positive about the course was the length of the bucket curry, as it was once again a challenging one that was able to change up a race.
As for the Beast course, it was a flat and fast course which allows an athlete to get a quick time. They were challenging elements such as putting Olympus after Rolling Mud, and was nice to see the return of an older carry in the shape of the log carry. For me, my only frustration with the Beast course was one of the out and back loops which was there simply to make up mileage at the end of the race, which could have had a Beast only obstacle put in it to make it more engaging before going into the final stretch, which was the same as the Sprint.
All in all, I feel that the courses were OK. They didn’t knock my socks off with the layout or any combinations like in previous race weekends, they just did a job. I realise that some athletes would like to be wowed with every course but the team had to contend with back-to-back courses between Tough Mudder and Spartan Race with only the night to change over, whilst trying to make the feel of each one different and not just a dressed up version of the other.
Lessons Learnt
Need To Be Better
This one just says it on the tin. In all areas of my racing, to be able to be tussling for those higher places, I just need to be better in all aspects. I need to be able to run faster, I need to be more efficient on the obstacles, and my transition in and out of the obstacles needs to be smoother. In addition, though at the time I may have been fully pushing it, I do need to consider as to whether the tactics were on point and if I was truly giving 100% the whole way through. I feel in hindsight that it may have felt like I wasn’t because I wanted to do better, but I will have to look into the data.
Integrity Of The Sport
During the weekend there were a few things that cropped up that me brought the integrity of the sport into question. Sadly, on reflection, I didn’t do the right thing and speak up about these infractions at the time for them to be appropriately actioned thus affecting race results.
To some, these individual infractions may seem like small things but in my eyes, there is a rulebook for a reason and should be abided by. If you let small infringements go without penalty, not only does this bring the sport into disrepute but it opens the door for other things to be allowed.
So my takeaway from this is that I should have better moral courage at the time and say something so that the right decisions are made in a timely manner.
Training Works
Surprising that, isn’t it? Actually, training makes you feel better going into a race and helps you to perform better. What a wild thing to say. But on a serious note on this, after having two weeks of proper cardiovascular training and attending the Obstacle Gym in those two weeks in the build up, I felt a lot more confident going into the race and had clean races when it matter. The only race that wasn’t clean was my final Sprint, missing the usual thing… the spear!
What's Next For Me
Now that the UK series is over, it’s time to move into the second half of the season which brings about the international races.
This starts with the European Championships in Austria at the beginning of September. Looking at the layout of the course, this is going to be a challenging race but a very fulfilling race. It will be my first opportunity to face some of the bigger names internationally as a Pro athlete.
Then I return back to the United Kingdom to complete an ultrafecta with me hoping to improve upon last year’s sixth place in the Ultra. Looking at it now, it is maybe not the best preparation for the race that I have the next weekend but I had already booked the Ultra before the opportunity to go to Hvar came about.
And with that last sentence, you will see that I am going to Hvar to compete in the 5K world championships. This I hope will be as a Pro athlete after qualifying with a good enough result at the European championships.
As they come thick and fast, the next championship weekend will then be the Trifecta World Championships in Sparta. Again with the hope of stepping up as a Pro subject to qualifying at earlier races. As much as I would love to relive standing on top of the podium, I’m not so confident that I’ll achieve that this time but I will push myself and see what I can achieve.
Then for the final race of the year, I will be returning to Abu Dhabi, again, hopefully as a Pro, to take on the Beast World Championships. A very busy and exciting end of the year, which I hope to continuously build through as the year goes on.
As for ambitions for these races, it is mainly to give myself a solid foundation to move into next year and hopefully improve upon results. To be able to race against the best in the business, this will give me a good benchmark for the standard that I need to be at.
Well, ladies and gentlemen that rap up the second Spartan Race UK 2024 race review. I sure do hope that you enjoyed it and found it insightful whether that be my comments on the course or my thoughts on being a volunteer debut. If you are interested in seeing more Spartan race content, whether that be in blog format or through more visual formats, sure to follow me on Instagram Facebook and or Twitter to see other content streams and be one of the 1st to know when I release the next blog.
If you’ve read this and now you’re wanting to take part in your first ever Spartan or had the fire in you reignited to return to the sport, I have the perfect opportunity for you! You can head over to the Spartan Race website (https://uk.spartan.com/en) and use my code, SRUKBA-REECE-CC for 20% off.
