Spartan Death Race Day 2: River Runs, Puzzles, and Eggs

After mountain suicides—which lasted from 9 p.m. Tuesday night to 4 a.m. Wednesday morning—racers were cut loose from their pairs. The next task was land navigation. Racers formed teams and were given a poorly printed map with multiple locations marked. Each location was worth a different amount of points and teams had to accumulate 180 points by 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Only 32 racers completed the navigation challenge in time. Those who were disqualified were sent back to Spartan CEO Joe De Sena’s farm for punishment, and the rest headed up to Bloodroot Gap, about 3,100 feet high. Daniel Gonsor (racer #102), Adrian Anzinger (#87), and Ashley Seeger (#50) were the first three to reach the top.

At one point during the race, competitors were given an egg and a choice: either eat the egg or carry it along with them without breaking it. Once racers reached Bloodroot Gap, they had to show that the raw egg remained unbroken. If it was broken, they were given a choice to either accept that they were now out of the race or eat the entire egg, shell included. Racers whose eggs were still intact were also given a choice: continue to carry it for the rest of the race or eat it. Ronald Tortola (#1) chose to eat his egg

Andrew Blair (#111), Athena Ojeda (#73), Clay Speakman (#123), and John Chamber (#91) cheers before consuming their eggs. A surprising amount of racers chose to eat their egg instead of continuing to carry them during the race.

Once the egg had been dealt with, racers were given their next task: scouring the mountain they just hiked up to bring back a handful of either chanterelle, chaga, or another edible mushroom. Once their mushrooms were approved, racers had to hike back down the mountain and head to the Iron Mines checkpoint, located about six miles from the base of the mountain.

Pablo Salguero (#23) brought back the first chaga mushroom of the test. Once the racers made it to Iron Mines with their mushroom, they then needed to brew a cup of tea using the mushroom and drink it before moving on to the next challenge.

At the Iron Mines, racers had to brew a tea with their newly acquired mushroom using their two pieces of tin foil. The second time-cut of the race happened at the Iron Mines. Only the first 16 of the 32 to finish their tea were allowed to move on to the next challenge.

The remaining 16 racers were tasked with raising a low-flow section of the river above a specific rock for their next challenge. They were not allowed to leave the river until the water line reached the rock.

After about 15 minutes of futility, John Chambers (#91) scrambled up the river, picked up a rock under the one marking the intended river height, and placed it deeper in the river. In the Death Race, ingenuity is rewarded (to an extent) and this idea was accepted as a solution to the challenge.

Racers then had to do a looped lap in the river and find a rock weighing at least 40 pounds to bring up to the bridge. The rock was not allowed to touch the ground once it had been picked up.

The racers were instructed to hold the rock over their head and squat. They had to remain in this position as long as possible. The one who held it the longest was granted a break from the next exercise.

Racers had to perform and hold a press plus leg raise for as long as possible. Anyone whose feet touched the ground was out and the winner was given a reprieve from the next penalty exercise.

Zack Zeigler (M&F‘s executive editor and racer #38) and Daniel Petrulis (#9) arrived at the Iron Mines past the time-cut. They joined the other 14 who did not make it down from Bloodrot Gap in time. However, as it goes with the Spartan Death Race, redemption is possible. The racers who were disqualified at the first time-cut had to clean bricks back at the farm and run suicides up and down the mountain. Ten from that first group were allowed back in. All racers headed back to the farm from here to see if they’d been given a chance to get their bib back.

A graveyard of bibs from disqualified racers lined the fence at De Sena’s farm. About 36 hours after the start of the race, and a few redemption opportunities, there were 29 racers still competing in the Summer Death Race 2019.

Zack talked to the medic after leaving the race. He wound up lasting over 30 hours this year and beat his time from 2018.