The 2017 Spartan New Jersey Ultra Beast was held at Mountain Creek in Vernon New Jersey. This was my first Spartan Ultra Beast. We are from outside of Pittsburgh, PA so we decided to get a hotel for the night. (By the way Super 8 is extremely nice for the price.)
I signed up for the competitive wave, which was scheduled to start at 6:15
AM. So we arrived at the venue at 5:15 AM. My wife and her friend were
volunteering so we decided to pay the $30 for VIP parking so we could have
access to our vehicle, to avoid the 20 minute bus ride.
First I went to check in and it was changed a little this year. No need to find your bib number any more, just print out your page with the bar-code on it. I think this will make the check-in process a little quicker. Now the volunteers don't have to dig through packets to find your name and number. They gave me my packet which included my band that had my time on, a green band, beer band, and my Green sweat band that signified I was running the Ultra. This made it easy for volunteers to know who was running which race. (Beast participants had a blue band)
After check-in I headed over to the drop bin area and dropped
off my bucket. For my bucket I used a 5 gallon bucket that I put some stickers
on and some bright duct tape.
I am happy I did this because there was a lot of drop bins in
the area. This did make it easier to find between laps.
Next I headed off to the start area. The start area was part
way up a ski slope. On my way up to the start my Garmin watch beeped, informing
me that I had reached my floors climbed goal for the day. Ha! At this point I
realized that we may see a few hills in our future. My start time was 6:15 AM,
and I climbed the wall to enter the start area around 6:10 AM. They were
running a little behind because they had an issue with a bus that they were
hauling volunteers to their stations at the different obstacles. We ended up
starting around 6:30 AM.
Shortly after leaving the start we encountered our first
obstacle, the Hay Wall, which wasn't much of a wall,
just 5 or 6 round bales laying on their side. Then we started the climb. The
first climb went on for awhile, I am not sure about the distance but there was
not much running for quite some time. Finally we got to the top of the
first hill where there was a 6 ft Wall. After
getting over this wall on the second lap there was a Memory
Test station. I didn't recall seeing it on the first lap, I guess they
didn't have it up or my memory was really bad. Regardless, runners doing the
Ultra were exempt from the memory test.
Then we started down hill for a little, most of the trails were single
track, and just newly marked. The first lap through they would have been
difficult to follow many of them if they were not marked by white ribbons. By
the second lap they were much easier to see and a lot more worn down, especially
anywhere there was a little water. The first lap it was like I got my shoe a
little wet, the second I had to hope my shoe stayed on.
Here is a list of the obstacles as I remember them, I think I got most of
them in order.
Monkey Bars: Offset bars that you see at most
spartan races. They were a little slippy and wet the first lap.
Dunk Wall: The normal dunk in the water under
the wall. This was very early in the race for this obstacle, normally it is
closer to the end.
Slip Wall: The wall was very wet because it was
right after coming out of the Dunk Wall.
Log Carry: This was a up and back on a decent
sized hill.
7 ft Wall: Standard Wall, sturdy as always at
Spartan
A-Frame: Standard Spartan Net covered
A-Frame
Water Crossing: This was through the edge of a
pond. Near the edge it was between my knees and waist, but as you got closer to
the marker I could barely touch in some areas.
Invert Wall: Standard Spartan Inverted
Wall.
Tyrolean Traverse: Hang from the rope and pull
yourself across until you can ring the bell.
Plate Drag: Standard Metal pan with sand bags
in and a rope attached tied to a stake. You pull the plate with the rope until
it hits the stake then drag it back until the rope is stretched back out.
Over Walls: Two smaller walls
Multi Rig: First a Pole, a ring or two, base
ball, a short rope, ring, baseball, and two rings before the bell (or something
close to that)
Olympus: This was new this year and my first
time seeing it. The first loop I tried to use the Red climbing grips and
slipped on the 4th or 5th one. They were very slick and wet in the
morning.
Spear Throw: I am about 50/50 with the spear.
I got it the first time.
Barbed Wire Crawl: Not super long, but there
was plenty of logs and other items to crawl over and around.
8 ft Wall: Standard Wall
Hurdles: 2 4x4 shaped beams about 4 ft. in the
air you had to go over.
Vertical Cargo Net: Cargo net over an aluminum
structure that you climb up and over.
Herc Hoist: Sand bag tied to a rope through a
pulley, that you pull the rope down until the knot above the sand bag hits the
pulley. Make sure you let it down easy so you don't hurt the baby. I don't
know I heard one of the volunteers keep saying it.
Sand Bag Carry: This was not the most difficult
sand bag carry I have done at a Spartan, there was no real elavation change,
just some zig zagging through the woods.
Memory Test: This is where you have to repeat
your letter and number combo. (Not required for the Ultra participants)
Z Wall: Climb around the Z shaped wall without
touching the top of the wall on blocks of 2x4s to hold onto.
Bender: This was a new obstacle for me this
year. It looks kind of like a bent latter that was missing the lower steps. It
was also bent so it was inverted. So one of the hardest parts was getting over
the top similar to the inverted wall.
Stairway To Sparta: Standard Spartan
obstacle, a large A-frame with a wall at the bottom.
Atlas Lift: Carry the Atlas Stone across to the
other flag, do 5 burpees, and then carry it back to the start location.
Bucket Brigade: This was a standard bucket
carry, guys had black buckets, girls had red buckets. Fill it up to cover the
holes and march the course. This was definitely the toughest bucket carry I
have done at a Spartan Race. It was up a pretty steep hill then around the turn
at the top and head back down. By far the toughest carry of the race. I also
heard a few people that said they had to redo it because there bucket was not
full enough when they got to the bottom.
Twister: This was another new obstacle for this
year and this was my first experience with it. It kicked my butt. I usually do
fairly well with these type of obstacles but I just couldn't get it. I am not
sure if it was because the bucket carry burned out my grip or if I just didn't
have a good technique with it. It got me both laps. (Burpees)
Rope Climb: Same as last year up the rope and
ring the bell but this year they had thick mats at the bottom.
Next it was back to the gear drop area, where I filled
my water bladder, had a salt tab and Clif bar, and headed back out for my second
lap. There was a small uphill on a single track that lead us back to the trail
right after the start gate.
Next we simply had to do everything again, (well maybe not simply), it took
me a little longer to get around the second lap. The course was a good bit more
crowded. But the staff and volunteers were great at getting the Ultra
participates to the front of the line for the obstacles.
I did get my second chance at Olympus and made it
across with no problem using the chains. After
getting around the second lap you get to pass the bag drop area, do the Fire Jump, and cross the finish line. After crossing the
finish line you don't get your Ultra Beast medal. You then have to go to a tent
where they verify that you finished both laps and crossed all the check points.
My wife got this picture at the end I think I was a little dehydrated and trying
to decide if I wanted to get pizza or icecream. Don't worry I got both to be
safe. As I said this was my first Ultra Beast and it was a great experience and
a great challenge. My Garmin showed a final mileage of 25.82 miles and 8,471
feet of elevation change.
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