They started with a battle cry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you?!\u201d an announcer asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpartans!\u201d the group of athletes yelled in reply.<\/p>\n
After a few \u201caroo\u201d call-and-response shouts, the competitors were off, crawling, climbing, running and burpee-ing their way to the finish line of the Spartan Race obstacle course.<\/p>\n
Every race on Fanny Hill held last weekend as part of the Spartan mountain series started in this fashion.<\/p>\n
Although Tough Mudder athletes have taken on similar feats in Snowmass Village before, this was the Spartan Race debut. Over 4,000 people took part in the various competitive obstacle races held Aug. 3 and 4, which aimed to be both mentally and physically challenging, according to the Snowmass Spartan race director, Ryan Durnan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is a test of your endurance and stamina,\u201d Durnan said of the Spartan race series.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 4 toward the end of the weekend, Durnan felt the Spartan Snowmass event had a good first year turnout, noting that the whole village community was great to work with.<\/p>\n
\u201cSnowmass puts on large events on a yearly basis and we are just happy to be the newest addition to that event series,\u201d Durnan said, hinting he hopes Spartan will return to Snowmass next summer.<\/p>\n
But although there are several competitive components that make up a Spartan racing event, one tends to stand above the rest for Durnan \u2014 the kids race series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s by far the best part of the race weekend,\u201d Durnan said of the kids\u2019 races. \u201cSpartan developed its community as a family, and the kids series definitely plays into that family dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, roughly 400 kids ages 4 through 13 competed in smaller-scale versions of the adult Spartan races on the hill above the Viceroy Hotel and beneath the Elk Camp gondola.<\/p>\n
From rope climbs and sand bag carries, to bear crawls and jumping over tall, wooden barriers, these young athletes took on half-mile, mile, and 2-mile obstacle courses \u2014 more often than not with the support of either a parent, sibling or both who had competed in the adult Spartan racing series.<\/p>\n
One of those kids was Cole Skinner, 13, from Broomfield.<\/p>\n
As he embarked on the 2-mile competitive racecourse Aug. 4, which was guided by a stricter set of race rules than the others in the kids\u2019 series, his dad was there with him every step of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe run together most of the time,\u201d Skinner said of his dad, Chuck Skinner, who competed in both the Spartan Beast and Sprint races over the weekend. \u201cHe tried the Spartan races out and did pretty well so I figured I\u2019d try too because I thought I could beat him someday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skinner took home a bronze medal last year during his Spartan debut in Breckenridge, and back-to-back first place medals this year over the Spartan Snowmass weekend in the 2-mile competitive kids races.<\/p>\n
His two siblings also raced on Saturday, but were too tired to come out again Aug. 4 to take on the obstacle courses, the Skinners said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese race weekends are like mini-vacations for us,\u201d said Chuck Skinner of his family. \u201cWe all train together and stay fit for life. \u2026 It really builds confidence in the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cole Skinner wasn\u2019t the only young athlete inspired by a relative to give Spartan Race a try \u2014 Joelliana Rohde, 11, also placed first overall in the girls\u2019 2-mile competitive race Aug. 4 and was driven by her older brother to try it for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to be more fit and healthy and my big brother Dan is my inspiration,\u201d Rohde said after the race.<\/p>\n
Rohde and Skinner are just two of the dozens of kids with older relatives part of the Spartan Snowmass races.<\/p>\n
According to the Snowmass kids race series lead staff member Bryce Gonzalez, this is a common scene at most kids\u2019 Spartan events across the country he\u2019s been a part of.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez said the Snowmass kids\u2019 races didn\u2019t have as big of a turnout as other race venues, likely because it was the first year at the village location, but that the energy was high and the weekend was a ton of fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about inspiring kids to want to be active. They look at this course and see a playground and want to play,\u201d Gonzalez said of the Spartan kids race series. \u201cEven the kids who cry because they\u2019ve never done something like this before push through because they don\u2019t know what it means to say no yet \u2026 that push is what\u2019s so exciting to see.\u201d<\/p>\n