Roberts Creek runner Shaun Stephens-Whale finished his season this year with two obstacle courses and a marathon. Stephens-Whale said that he is considering running in obstacle courses professionally next season.
His first obstacle was the Spartan Race in Sun Peaks, B.C., on Sept. 27, where he came in first place out of 500.
“I thought I’d give it a go because obstacle racing sounded like a lot of fun,” Stephens-Whale said. “When I was young I used to challenge my friends to races like that around the back yard for fun – so I figured, why not give it a go.”
The racecourse was a half marathon in length (21 km) with a kilometre and a half of vertical elevation gain. Sprinkled throughout the course were about 40 obstacles. Runners had to do things like crawl under barbed wire, jump over fences, run through tire fields and carry heavy sand bags.
“It was a lot of fun,” Stephens-Whale said.
He came first in the race and won a trophy along with some prize money.
Spartan has been expanding quite a bit over the past few years and it’s now held all around the world.
The week after the Sun Peaks race, Spartan held a world champions event in Lake Tahoe, Calif. Stephens-Whale ran in this as well and placed 18th out of 200 registered to compete in the world championships. Along with the 200 champions, a total of 5,000 participants ran in the race.
“It was good, but my expectations are a bit higher,” Stephens-Whale said. “It was a bit humbling because some of the carries were very, very heavy. One of the obstacles was that you have to carry a 36 kg bucket of dirt 400 metres up a 30-degree ski slope. That was absolutely brutal. I barely made it.”
Stephens-Whale said he plans on continuing to compete in obstacle course races, partly because they’re fun and partly because the top finishing positions come with decent prize money. However, he said, he will need to start a new training regiment – with deadlifts and heavy load carries – to be a serious contender next spring.
“I think that coming from a runner’s background is sort of a novel thing in obstacle course racing because most of the guys there come from a gym background,” he said. “Considering that you’re running half a marathon – you’re out there for two hours plus. I think it really suits a runner who is capable of doing those heavy carries. I think it’s definitely a sport I could excel in if I train for it appropriately.”
Following the Spartan races, Stephens-Whale ran in the Victoria Marathon where he finished in two hours and 38 minutes.
“I’ve never done a marathon before. I decided to do it because I was goaded by a friend into it. I finished. I ran 2:38. It wasn’t bad, but it’s not exactly like I was training for it,” Stephens-Whale said.
