Spartan Super Race Report. For a few weeks I had been umming and ahhing about traveling down to Melbourne for the Spartan Super. Disappointed to have pulled the pin on Vermont, since that decision my hand and achilles had healed well and I was feeling good. Before making Melbourne a definite though, the body needed a test, which came in the form of the Kathmandu 12 hour adventure race when a friend needed a fill in. After 9 hours of running, riding, and kayaking to a podium finish the body felt great, so Melbourne was a definite. Unfortunately while waiting to test the body I had failed to listen to my sisters good advice and book flights early, so the only long weekend flights left were super expensive. Cut to Saturday night, after 10 hours of driving a shitbox Daihatsu in long weekend/double demerit traffic, I arrived at Kyle “carve it up” Creeks house. Despite sitting in 2nd and 3rd on the OCRL board, Kyle and I had never raced each other and i was looking forward to the challenge. However, on arrival I found Kyle hobbling around on crutches with one foot heavily bandaged. Turned out this wasn’t some secret training methodology of resting the legs, but a result of the night before where Kyle had gone from carving up obstacle courses to carving up the dance floor, and in the process had carved up his foot on broken glass. Still keen to soak up the Spartan atmosphere, Kyle, along with Jarrad Page and Tony Curtis, piled into the Daihatsu for the trip from Footscray to Bacchus Marsh, where Kyle was generously putting us all up for the night. I still have no idea how man mountain Tony Curtis managed to fit in the back of the Daihatsu, but somehow he did. Despite the inviting sounds of a rocking 80s soundtrack at a party next door, we all went to bed at a reasonable hour, which became slightly less reasonable on realising that we lost an hour due to Daylight Savings. Rocking up at the OCRL tent the next morning I was both disappointed and relieved to hear that Matt Murphy and Ryan Roberts were taking a well deserved break after conquering America. Disappointed as I was excited about the prospect of racing against the best in the world, but relieved as there were two less blokes to chase. It was short lived relief though, as looking around there was a large posse of fit looking Southern Cross Spartans, and other up and comers, all ready and raring to seize Matts Spartan crown. My race plan was the same as usual. Dont get caught up in the early sprint, find my own rhythm, move into some space when the obstacles start, look ahead to see how the guys in front attack the obstacles, and then get to the lead with a km to go. It didn’t work in shorter races, but over 14km and an hour and a half of racing, I was confident it would be the way to go. I was glad to see weighted carries and drags on the course map, as I knew guys like Will would have me for speed, but I knew I could get some time back at the strength obstacles. At the start line I was on the second row of the grid with Jarrad and Dave Brookes. Perhaps one day I will get up the front to get the better photo, but with my slow starts I would probably get trampled to death. We had the Spartan pump up - Aroo, and were off. No surprise - the pace was hectic, and the path was rough with plenty of divets and tussocks to trip on. After a rush of blood sent me on a little misguided spurt down the side, I fell back into a rhythm behind Rino Paluch and Shane Koziwoda, hypnotised by the psychedelic flashes of green gold and purple calf socks. Snapping out of the trance I managed to move up to the front with Will and Tony Curtis at the sandbag carry. This was a strength of mine, but I have to tell you Tony Curtis is a machine, and he powered right through. We followed some dodgy paths through to the long barb wire crawl, and I took the slower option of crawling rather than rolling. I didn’t need to see breakfast again, not at this early stage. Will smashed it, and seemed to put a hundred metres on us in matter of seconds. I swear I had triple knotted my laces, but they were new and slippery, and somehow one had come loose in the crawl. A rookie mistake but I needed to stop and retie my laces, with Will, Tony, and 3 or 4 other guys who I didn’t know quickly opening up a large gap. Better to lose a minute now, than lose a shoe in a creek. I found myself running with the flying mankini Brendan Hunt, and I gotta tell you the guy is just always smiling. Jumping over logs, hoisting a kettlebell, there was just a real look of enjoyment on his face. I don’t know if it was because he just loves obstacle racing so much, or if the mankini was rubbing him in some special kind of way. Maybe I should give it a go. With a large gap between me and the leaders, and half the course done, I really had to lift the cadence. Making up some time on the cinder block drag and sloping wall, the gap had shrunk when we reached the balance beam. Memories of 30 burpees at my last Spartan effort came rushing back. My body was pushing to attack it hard and get to the lead, but fortunately my brain stepped in, calmed me down and I progressed slowly and steadily through to the end. On the beam next to me, Tony slipped and copped 30 burpees. There were still 4 guys in front. Will and the mystery 3. I kept pushing hard to close the gap, making up some time at the 8ft wall and traverse, I was back with the group. Into the gullies, and I was stuck at the back of a conga line through a creek and gully. I attempted to pass, but slipping and sliding, it was too much effort for little reward, and so I stayed in the conga line until all 5 of us ran up a hill to a strongman carry. Will arrived first at the sight of a 55kg deadball, muttering something as he attempted to heave an awkward object that weighed almost as much as him. Here was my strength and here was my opportunity. I managed to quickly get the ball onto my shoulder, whilst others attempted a slower baby carry, got to front, turned on the jets, and refused to look back. Just as I had wanted, here we were with a km to go and for the first time I had the lead. Finishing the carry, I went straight into full stride down a hill and up an escarpment, opening up a lead. Here we go, time to pop the champagne? Silly boy Lachlan. There was the spear throw. I threw strong, I threw straight, but in the excitement I also threw high, and as I watched my spear fly over the top of the hay bales and began my burpees, newcomer James Meredith appeared at the top of the escarpment, having smashed the deadball carry himself. As I worked through my burpees, I watched his spear sail right into the centre of a hay bale, thrown with grace and skill of a Spartan champion, and him then take off to finish the rest of the course. I just finished my burpees when Will appeared, and also nailed the spear throw. Having caught Will at the end of Tough Bloke in July, all of sudden I felt like Will was the Terminator and I was John Connor. Right on my tail as we crawled over the wet cargo net, we hit the monkey bars at the same time. Another strength, I managed to pull away, attacked the rope and cargo climb, and proceeded to try and catch James. Someone yelled out 500 to go, but James was already a couple of hundred metres in front. I tried my best to close the gap, but hope was fading fast. That was until I saw James dropping into burpees on the other side of wall. Suddenly hope returned. What was this I wondered? He has failed an obstacle. Another chance? Nope, as quickly as the hope came, Spartan tore it away, dealing me with 30 burpees as well. Why? Just because its a Spartan Race. Will appeared behind, and at one point we were all doing burpees together, but the positions weren’t too change. Disappointed to be none from 2 on spear throws, but happy to share the podium with 2 amazing athletes. Strong and fast, I have no doubt that James Meredith will be one to watch in the league next year. Following on from the race, it was time to soak up the atmosphere. Cheering family and friends, peoples excitement as they finished their race, it was great. I had a crack at the Iron edge wod, pipping Tony by a couple of seconds, and holding onto the fastest time for most of the day until Commando Steve came and blew it out of the water. Without doubt the highlight though was watching Iron Will Lind, put his entire 60kg frame into an attempt at cleaning an 85kg deadball. He definitely gets an A+ for effort. It was also great to meet new people who I have heard so much about such as Jen Dugard and Mick Crossley. Back into the Daihatsu with Kyle, Jarrad and Tony. Tony somehow still managed to fit in, and after dropping the boys back at Footscray it was onto the highway for the drive home. Reaching the Picton turn off late in the evening, I smiled as I thought about the challenge to come in one months time, so back into training – and I will see you all then.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 04:46:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015