On the 6th September a brave group of Striders went to Ivory’s Rock (just outside Ipswich) to take on the Spartan Beast. The Beast is a 21k trail run with 35 physically challenging obstacles thrown in along the way. If you miss an obstacle, there is a 30 burpee penalty! Our team consisted of Michael Stark, Nigel Small, Peter Wilkes, Anthony Fuster, Tanya Wehl and Ben McDonell (friend of Striders). Louise Lewis was our cheer squad and support crew. Here’s what unfolded – in verse…
T ’was the week before Spartan
When all throughout the year,
We’d been preparing for the show down
And to earn ourselves a beer!
What a brilliant day it was
The day had finally arrived
The perfect day for adventure
With Benny on our team, we had God on our side!
We donned our headbands
Said our last goodbyes
Then ran out of the starting area
“Who are you?” “I am Spartan” was the reply.
The Beast was out there in many forms
From kettle bell pulls
Crawling under barbed wire fences
To climbing up 10 foot high walls.
Then came sandbag mountain
That broke many a soul
It got even the best of us
Our hammies were screaming – Owwwww!!!
The mud pit was fun
Every kids dream!
Just stay away from Starky
His revenge is not so sweet!
The mud was washed off
In the coldest of mountain streams
After sliding down a slippery bank
Only a wet rope to slow our decent – weeee!
Then came the rope climb
The toughest obstacle of all
Most of us conquered our demons
We gave it our all!
We crossed the finish line
After leaping through fire
And celebrated our victory
With beers all round (some preferred cider)
We conquered the Beast
We finished as a team
We saw sides of each other
That we didn’t really want to see
(Also mud in places there probably shouldn’t have been!)
Everybody Dies
But not everybody Lives!
Who’s up for the Ultra Beast next year (42k + 70 obstacles)?
