Health | AROO! Spartan challenge and competition

Anyone who sends me an email signing off with the phrase 'AROO!' deserves my attention. So when the guys from Reebok's Spartan Race contacted me and signed off in that exact way, I got a bit excited. I've thought about doing obstacle races before but have always wimped out in favour of other ridiculous challenges (including recently fell running in the Lake District and my first triathlon). However having accomplished some of my more far fetched challenges recently I felt it was time to step up.

Spartan Race is the worlds leading obstacle racing series with over 130 events in 17 countries last year. Unique to most obstacle runs this isn't simply a challenge: it's a race. And I love I good race. So yes, primarily completing it should be your first goal, but then beating your friends, yourself and your other Spartan opponents is your next goal. 

There are three different lengths you can enter: Sprint (5km and 15+ obstacles), Super (13km and 20+ obstacles) or Beast (20km and 25+ obstacles) and they happen across the UK with upcoming races in South Wales, Manchester, Scotland, Cambridgeshire and Battle, East Sussex.

As I read through the instructions online my favourite pre-race advice of any race I've ever entered has to feature under what to wear, "shorty shorts, monkey suit or Lycra". Awesome: monkey suits at the ready people. Obstacle course runs are a chance to accept you might fail, accept it might get messy (actually: will get messy) and accept you won't have a beautiful swishy hair finish line photograph. But that's kind of the point: who wants to look perfect anyway? Instead don't we want to run until we get that giddy breakthrough feeling in our legs, until others will boggle at what we are planning to achieve and until we can cross the finish line and feel an overwhelming flood of pride for our achievement.

As races increase in distance and we are told to keep striving to go further and faster, isn't it about time someone grabbed the racing world by the scruff of the next and threw the original aim at us: get fit, be strong, have fun, be challenged, thrive.

And if you've always been too scared to enter now is your chance! The guys at Spartan are offering a free place to one reader of my blog at one of the 2015 Spartan races near you. To enter the competition, simply comment below answering: Why would you like to compete in the Spartan race? Competition closes on 30th June and winner will be announced the next week on my blog.

You can also get 10% off any Spartan race by entering the discount code BLOGGER15 online.

So meet me at the start line of the Cambridgeshire Spartan Sprint where I'll be competing or find the race nearest to you. Whatever you do: do it with conviction. AROO!

Find out more about the Spartan Races online here >>


UPDATE
I'm delighted to announce Patrick Aubrey has won race entry to a Spartan of his choice this Autumn. I'll be participating at the Cambridgeshire Sprint Spartan on 5th September so look out for my race report shortly after!

Patrick said:

Well done Patrick!