After being postponed into 2020, The Spartan Race was held in Santa Margarita

SANTA MARGARITA — 8,000 racers from all over the world showed up at the Spartan Race in Santa Margarita on March 12 and 13. The race originally was to take place in March of 2020 and finally made its North County appearance after being shut down due to initial COVID lockdowns. 

“We set the course up, everyone was ready to go, and pretty much the day before the event went off, we ended up having to pull it because of COVID,” said Spartan’s Head of Media, Christine De La Rosa-Stotz of the 2020 Spartan Race.

Local racers, racers from all over the United States, and racers worldwide participate in Spartan Races. March 12 racers competed in the 12k BEAST with 30 obstacles or the 50K ULTRA with 60 obstacles. March 13, the 10K SUPER with 25 obstacles took place. There was also a 1-3k kids race with smaller obstacles on both days. 

“Every single time that we come to an event it’s amazing. You get to see the community here. You get to kind of see; it’s just something that you can’t really explain about coming to a Spartan Race until you actually come. It’s just a general kind of feeling you get when you walk up on the course, and you start to see all the racers getting ready. Everybody’s seeing each other, meeting each other for the first time, or a lot of people, obviously, who race all the time with us, they’re seeing their friends. It’s a really good vibe as soon as you walk up. It’s such a nice moment to take it all in and be able to see everybody for the first time after a while,” De La Rosa-Stotz said of getting everyone back together for the race.

Spartan Race, also known as the world’s most popular obstacle race, had options for every skill set of the racer, from beginners to professional athletes. 

“We have a couple of different heats that happen at Spartan. We have the open heat, which anyone can sign up for; it’s the, I don’t want to call it the easiest heat, it’s just the one where if it’s your first time that’s kind of what you want to do. You get to just take it in. You don’t have to run the course; you can walk it if you want; it’s just a really nice introduction to the community. That’s usually where we have our local racers,” said De La Rosa-Stotz. “And there’s age group category, which is more competitive, but you’re competing against people in your own age group. There’s about ten age group categories that go all the way from 18-24, up to 60+.”

In those categories, there’s a series called The US National Series. There are five races that are a part of the series, including the race that took place in Santa Margarita over the weekend. 

“People will compete throughout the year in that series in order to qualify for our World Championships, which is in Abu Dhabi this year,” added De La Rosa-Stotz. “[March 12] was the second race of the year for the National series, and then [March 13] will be the first race of the Elite Nationals Series, which is our professional athletes that come and race. They have about five races a year that they compete in for the chance to be qualified for World Championships.”

De La Rosa-Stotz also stated that even though Spartan Races can look intimidating, there are options for every kind of racer out there. “You can definitely always find a race that’s suitable for what you’re looking to do, whether that is to have fun or be competitive. There’s just something out there for you at Spartan,” she added. 

To follow along with Spartan Races or sign up to participate, go to spartan.com.