Millions of competitors know Spartan from its popular obstacle course races (OCRs). It stages the run-and-maneuver events in more than 40 countries around the world.<\/p>\n
Last month, the company announced a pivot toward trails. A dozen trail-running events will take place in 2019, including one July 14 at Fort Carson (south of Colorado Springs).<\/p>\n
The Spartan Trail Races correspond with existing OCR race locations. In addition to the July 13-14 weekend at Fort Carson, they will be held in Washington, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.<\/p>\n
They come in two distances: 10km and 21km. And, in Spartan fashion, courses will be technical, rugged singletrack trails with natural obstacles like river crossings and log hops.<\/p>\n
Male and female athletes from ages 14 to 60-plus can compete in races divided by group.<\/p>\n
Some have suggested Spartan is branching into this new area because the sport of OCR is on a decline. Meanwhile, the activity of trail running is in growth mode, nearly doubling in participation in the past few years.<\/p>\n
Joe De Sena, Spartan founder and CEO, said in a news release that “the ancient Spartans were known to run on the mountainous trails of Sparta, so it’s a natural extension of our brand.”<\/p>\n
Ready to tow the ancient line? See race descriptions and a lineup of the events at Spartan.com\/trail<\/a>. (There is another Colorado event scheduled for Aug. 17, but the location remains TBA).<\/p>\n Stephen Regenold writes about outdoors gear at http:\/\/www.gearjunkie.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n