For some, the prospect of running a few miles isn’t even worth considering. For others, it’s not worth considering unless there are 20 obstacles and hilly terrain to make things more challenging.
Branded obstacle-course races like the Spartan Race and the Tough Mudder are gaining traction worldwide, and Alberta racers have quite a few to choose from including one just outside St. Albert.
About 250 racers took part in the second annual West Country Hearth Attack last weekend, an exhausting 5.5-km course through the hilly country just south of Calahoo.
Many runners were there to support the cause – last year’s event raised more than $40,000 for the West Country Hearth, a continuing care facility in Villeneuve – but many also came looking for a challenge.
Courtney Sawchuk, catching her breath after finishing the course, said she likes obstacle-course races because they’re just a lot more fun than a typical footrace.
“Running is pretty boring, let’s be honest, so it’s fun to have the different obstacles and challenge yourself,” she said.
She said compared to the 21-km Tough Mudder she did in Drumheller, the Hearth Attack wasn’t too bad, but the hilly terrain made it tough.
That’s exactly what course designer Chris Moore had in mind for the course, saying he knows from first-hand experience it’s as challenging a course as any of the others that are out there.
“I would stack this up against anyone else’s course,” he said. “But obviously I’m a bit biased. It’s hard not to be.”
He has plenty of experience himself running Spartan races around the province, and got into the sport for much the same reason Sawchuk did: it just looked like a lot of fun.
“I had never even been a runner, but I thought it looked really cool,” Moore said. “I don’t really want to run, but I would do obstacles. So I tried it, and it was awesome.”
He made some changes to this year’s course to help stop bottlenecks and improve the flow of the runners, who took on the course in five different heats, and also added a few new obstacles this year.
Runners were challenged with moving sandbags up hills, climbing up piles of tires or over hay bales, climbing over a wall, climbing a rope, and crawling through culverts.
The ones runners described as the hardest varied from person to person.
Derek McLean said by far, the most difficult part was carrying sandbags up a steep hill. His wife Stephanie said she found climbing the rope pretty tough, and hopping across the foam lily pads in a makeshift pond two feet deep was no treat either.
“It was hard but it was my favourite, kind of like that WipeOut show,” she said.
For Travis Brenneis – who completed the course faster than anyone else both years the event has run with times of about 30:30 each year – the strength and endurance obstacles weren’t what gave him the most trouble but rather the balancing and accuracy challenges.
“The zigzag was the toughest,” he said. “There’s a lot of balance and it’s hard, especially after running up that hill. My legs were pretty wobbly.”
Likewise, he said the obstacle where runners had to grab a water gun, run to the top of a hill and shoot over an empty can was a lot harder than it looked, especially when your arms are all shaky from climbing and hauling sandbags.
Runners who couldn’t complete an obstacle could instead do 20 burpees to get a pass, or make an additional $5 donation to the West Country Hearth.
The runners were all in good spirits but visibly exhausted, by the end. And to sweeten the deal, the entry fee included a free burger and a drink in the beer gardens.
“That’s the best tasting beer you’ll ever have, no doubt about it,” Moore said.
