Spartan Race Atlanta 2015...Another Pure Mud-Fest - Race Review

I have to admit, I'm a bit behind on my posting.  I was unexpectedly at the OCR World Championships last week...an absolute eye-opening experience...and now need to get back on schedule.  The Spartan Race Atlanta, like the Savage Race two weeks before, was an absolute mud mess!  Late in the build week, the rains had stopped and the venue was just starting to drain and dry up some.  But of course, Saturday morning came and so did the thunderstorms...again.

Hearing the thunder early Saturday, I decided to sleep in a bit, feeling that the early heats would be postponed and oh....it was raining again, for the second race in a row.  I realize that makes no sense, given that I'm going to be wet and muddy anyway.  But I do like to arrive and leave relatively dry...if not clean.  Sooner than later though, I got my lazy, broken ass up to get to the venue.  Having checked the weather, I saw that there might be a break in the rain mid morning, so my plan was to get off by 10am or so...hopefully missing at least some of the rain.

Arriving at the Durhamtown Resort, the race site, it didn't take long to see the impact of the morning's rain.  Mud!  And where there was no mud, there were puddles...covering more mud.  Joy....  After checking my bag...and praying that we built the bag check racks securely as the ground below was nothing but puddles...I headed to the start corral as quickly as possible.  In just a few minutes we were off and about 20 yards into the race we hit mud.  Slick, red clay that would be the norm for the next 8 or 9 miles.  Another day of slip and slide.

Given the conditions, there was not a whole lot of running going on that day.  For me, that just evened things up since my injuries really kept me from doing much more than a quick walk.  In fact, the only place I can remember not having mud was at the fire jump, where they deliberately put down gravel.  A good thing too as they built themselves a nice size fire to hop over at the end.  Unfortunately, this was only about 30 feet from the finish line.  Surprisingly though, there were a number of places where the mud wasn't slick but was more of a sticky, solid mud.

Most of this sticky mud was on the carries...take pleasure in the little things!  One of the two log carries and the sandbag carry were on what looked like dirt bike race tracks.  So I suppose they use a different mix of soil on those which made for much better footing than expected,  We weren't so fortunate on the long bucket carry though or the first log carry.  Slogging and slipping throughout.  And the atlas carry?  Splashing through puddled grass and mud made me think of pointless punishment in some ancient prison camp....I can't imagine why.

I also did a 'double take' at the second log carry.  Deja-vu hit me and because of a small trail marking mishap, I swore I'd done this already...even though the terrain was a bit different.  My mind was probably rebelling over having to carry another log!  Once again, thanks be given for small gifts.  This log carry and later on, the uphill barbed wire crawl were the same sort of sticky mud on the dirt bike tracks.  Now I'm not saying it was a joy, but by digging your elbows in slightly you could make pretty good time rolling.  And there must have been a lot of newbies on the course that race too.  Very few were doing the roll and there was a lot...I mean a lot...of groaning and slow, slow body dragging that day.  You know you're doing something wrong when an old man rolls by you on the barbed wire!

There were, of course, many of the usual suspects in terms of obstacles.  Various walls to get over, including the 7' and 8' varieties.  Along with the over, under, through wall series.  And as I approached the 8' wall, Taylor Cuevas, one of the build foreman, gave a shout to the crowd from his cart to "get that guy over the wall".  Which I took exception to immediately...mostly because there was no way I could do that wall without help.  Then there were the rig and monkey bars.  Rain and mud were a factor here too...although I still wasn't ready to test my arm on those.

Then there were the cargo and vertical cargo nets...made more challenging from the mud that was on everything.  Including the climbing ropes!  I had tried out the rope climb in the festival area before heading out and felt, despite my shoulder being only about 50-60%, I could 'technique' my way up.  We'll, in spite of the fact that there was no water pit below, the ropes proved to be the new 'rig' that day.  In all the time I watched...before, during and after my race...I don't think I saw more than a handful of people make it up.  There was just no way to get a grip on the rope with all the mud on it.  Iron grip...gloves...handfuls of straw...nothing seemed to work.  Oh well...there's always next time...

All in all, I enjoyed this race and liked the rolling terrain.  Mud levels the playing field for me!  I also enjoyed running into (no pun intended) several racers I had met at the Asheville Super...Brian, Molly and Shana...still out there doing what they do.  Helping others through the course and doing something they never thought they could.  Props to you guys!!  And also seeing Heather the super-photography.  One of the best photographers you'll find out there and certainly the most enthusiastic.  And also seeing my former Spartan crew leaders Steve Oh' and Tracy.  Steve as always, roaming the course in his ATV.  Tracy, in what looked like more than half a hazmat suit...a smart move that day...was doing her thing in the festival area.  I did not envy her this day...but enjoyed running into her again.

Besides the rain, there was another water related issue that day however...the showers stopped!!  Unfortunately, so had the rain and we were covered in mud...and slogging through mud everywhere.  Not sure what the problem was exactly, but there was certainly grumbling and the feeling of "Woodstock" got much stronger looking around at mud covered people sitting in every relatively dry spot within sight.  When the water did come back on...and I'm sure it wasn't off as long as it felt to us...they went to rationing.  Sounds like that would suck, but as I thought about it, they really should institute that as a regular process for the showers.  We all have our plastic bags to carry the wet clothes in and there really is no need (guilty as charged) to clean them off at the showers. So bringing in groups of racers for 2-3 minutes of rinsing is more than enough time to get respectable...if not actually clean.  Just saying....

One more thing...which happened after the race.  In fact it happened at the campsite later that day.  Something that seems to happen more and more in my personal experience.  When I got back to my site, there were a few young guys next door.  When I asked if they minded me rinsing off my race clothes...they were within the potential splash zone...I found out that they had run the race as well.  Three college students from AL...Travis, Jacob and Kyle...two of whom had run this race for the first time.  One thing led to another and before I knew it I was treated to steak, beer, a roaring (think: thank god the woods were still wet) fire and some great company and conversation.  Mostly about obstacle course racing (OCR), different races and college football (very quietly about college football as we were surrounded by GA Bulldog flags and they had just lost!).  Just another example of the impact OCR has...both on and off the course.  A pleasure meeting them and a big thank you for sharing their dinner with me!!

Related Links:

Spartan Race Build - Atlanta 2015 - The Land of Mud…and Ants

My Journey to the Center of the (OCR) World - OCR World Championships 2015

Durhamtown Off Road Resort

Spartan Race at Asheville, NC 2015 - Race Review - Best of the Old and the New

Back To The Basics - Building a Savage Race - Atlanta 2015

I suppose I should have been expecting the unexpected.  But having worked on a half dozen race builds already, it seemed that a Savage Race build would be just another variation on the theme.  Obviously, that was not the case!  Savage Race has been recognized by Inc Magazine as one of the top 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S.  Savage Race also has a more modest expansion plan than many other race promoters and that is an indication of how they do run this company as a business...with a different focus than you may see elsewhere.

Several things jumped out at me during the build days.  One of the first and most surprising differences from any other race is that Savage builds certain of their largest obstacles to remain on the venue's site permanently!!  Other than fixed venue courses like Shale Hill in VT, Savage is the only major race promoter that does this as far as I'm aware.  Most of these obstacle are wooden too, where the other big promoters have been going to lighter weight metal structures where possible.  As with anything, there are great benefits and great disadvantages of this methodology.

The pros:  Decreased time in building or setting up the obstacles.  Reduced transportation costs...Savage only has one storage trailer to ship to each race venue as of now.  Reduced building and manpower costs as the obstacles do not have to be designed for dis-assembly. 

The cons:  Obstacles must be protected and possibly repaired or restored due to weather.  For new venues, they must completely rebuild each of those permanent obstacles...at a significant cost in time and material.  New venues may not allow these to remain permanently as more races vie for use of a limited resource...meaning practical race course sites.  Limited ability to create truly new/unknown courses since they have to incorporate the fixed obstacle placements.

They also run the risk of 'playing out' a venue...one of the issues that I feel is going to be more prevalent in the future.  Obstacle course racing (OCR) is only 5 years young.  With so many race options, particularly in the Atlanta area, races may suffer from stagnation or racer boredom with the 'same old venue' each year...no matter how nice it is.  Particularly in the case of the Atlanta venue, where they run both a Spring and Fall race.

Savage Race was also notable in the fact that they have a much smaller build crew.  Partially, I'm sure, from the fact that they have permanent obstacles.  They also have all the tents and barricades setup through the rental companies.  Again, saving on both the build crew size and shipping costs between venues.  And from what I gathered, this is a family and friends crew that works all the events.*  However, it's efficient and extremely cost conscious...'glitz' is certainly not on the menu.  It has the feel of what it must be like on many of the smaller OCR promoter builds.  But make no mistake...Savage intends to put on a big-time performance and crew members like Gary, Bo and Sean are intent on that happening!  And should I mention their unique ATV trail marking technique?!  No...probably not...but it was different!!

One similarity, Savage does rely on volunteers to come in during the build week too.  Although, as you might expect, the number needed appears to be much smaller than the larger competitors.  They were however, very appreciative of the volunteers and went out of their way to make sure we knew that.

What was also a bit different was the apparent familiarity of the volunteers when it came to other races.  On my previous builds, most of them seemed to be the hard-core Mudder, Spartan or BattleFrog athlete, with little experience outside those races.  Here at the Savage build it seemed to be just the opposite.  The volunteers I met...Chanel and Mike...were very well versed on the other races.  

That may be another challenge for Savage in the future as well.  I didn't see the racer fanaticism/loyalty here as with the other builds.  And they don't have a Savage Pro team.  Whatever the reason, it is doubtless an intentional part of their business plan.  In the end, the race will be the test.  I was looking forward to that with great anticipation as this is...obviously...my first Savage race.

* An interesting side note...as fate would have it, I got to meet and work with Garfield Griffiths on the Savage kid's course.  Ok, actually I was told I could go home a little early Thursday afternoon but convinced them to let me "see if those guys over there needed any help".  I'd heard that he was working on the kid's course and I wanted to meet him.  Garfield is the course designer for the Obstacle Course Racing World Championship {OCRWC} and happened to see him that morning on Matt B. Davis' Obstacle Racing Media {ORM} podcast...file this under 'small world'.

Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Adventure 2015....continued....

It's hard to believe that the Summer of OCR ended only a few weeks ago.  Even harder to believe that it was only six weeks long.  Seemed a lot longer!  So many things happened during those weeks and it was a whirlwind of traveling, course building and racing.  As with anything I do, I always try to learn from the experience to make the next time even better...it's an engineer thing I guess...just have to try and improve everything!

The first thing I found was that a race each week was a grueling schedule.  Not just the fact that between traveling to the next event, working the builds and then racing, there was almost no time to write!!  Add on to that injuries...illness...general wear and tear...no recuperation time/rest/training time and I suddenly had a whole new appreciation for professional athletes.  And props to the elite racers who go at this regularly...even doing multiple laps or back to back days of racing.  Obviously I'm still doing something seriously wrong, besides just being old!

Compounding that, most of the places I camped had no Internet service or very limited service.  One didn't even have cell service.  Hence, every week seemed to put me more in the hole with my writing as well as normal communications.  And just staying on top of OCR activity proved to be difficult.

What I did want to continue was the incredible experience of meeting so many different people and having some truly life changing experiences.  Nor did I want to lose the insights and 'schooling' I was getting on what it really takes to put on a worthwhile OCR event.  Anyone can slap a few obstacles together, mark a trail and charge a lot of money to get in.  But it takes special people to make it exciting, challenging...and safe at the same time.  Meeting and working with these people...that is my mission!!

My initial plans had been to head out west for the Spartan Race World Championship, along with the World's Toughest Mudder and several other Spartan races and Tough Mudders.  In the end though, I had to ratchet that back a bit and stay on the east coast.  Nagging injuries, the final stages of 'swamp fever' and unexpectedly (but not surprisingly) having to give up my place all contributed to the decision.  Gives a whole new meaning to the lyrics from that old Janis Joplin song..."freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose".  But I digress...

So, my new plans will be concentrated in the greater Atlanta and Nashville areas for a couple of Spartans, another BattleFrog and my first Savage Race.  With the scheduling of these races I was also able to not only space them out every other week, but because of this generally centralized area, I'm able to stay in a 'normal' house during the off weeks...yeehaa!!  Provided of course that I behave myself....no promises there but I'll do my best.

After these I should be heading back towards Florida again for a few more races...where the weather should be more conductive to OCR'ing than skiing.  Then...well...who knows exactly.  One thing for certain...in the coming weeks and months there will be change...the one constant in this universe!!  That should make for some interesting reading I'm sure....to be continued...

Summer of OCR Review 2015 - Spartan Race, Tough Mudder and BattleFrog

Race schedule