Norm Koch, the infamous race course director, posted the following on Facebook last week: [quote]Anyone have any obstacle wants or wishes for 2015? Something that I can try and add to the 2015 season? We have a bunch of new stuff this year, but i wanted to here from everyone who may have an idea they want to share. Your idea may help spark another idea or maybe we could use it? Spartan has retained a warehouse for R&D. It’s going to be a cool playground. I can’t promise anything but i want to challenge the shit out of everyone. [/quote]
As my good friend Matthew says: “Ask, and ye shall receive”. Here are the obstacles the racers want to see in 2015 racing season:
AGILITY
gut checks a la BattleFrog sternum checker
downhill tire ride
zip line
crawl tunnels
door knob traverse wall with no foot holds (preferably after a bucket brigade)
Norm’s rod connected to monkey bars or a cargo net monkey bar
moving targets for spear throw
the Weaver
WATER
long swim
water slide
peg traverse wall over water
extra long balance beam or log walk over water
brick swim (yes, just what it sounds like – swim with a brick)
downhill barbwire crawl into the… you guessed it! – water
floating platforms to jump over – in a straight line or staggered
ice bath, followed by jump over fire, then another ice bath
jump water pit to hanging cargo nets to downward monkey bars
inverted frame cargo net suspended over water
or this:
STRENGTH
weighted lunge loop
weighted monkey bars
prowler sled pushing stations
bucket carry across balance beams
uphill barbwire crawl with a sandbag
longer distance atlas carry
log carry through a mud pit
sit-up stations with a sandbag press
AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR
spider wall
vertical pole traverse
Olympic rings on pegs
SMART ASS
underwater cage crawl
a maze
LEGO fire walk
prove Fermat’s last theorem
a shooting range (bring your own rifle)
run the entire race with an egg in your mouth, and if it breaks – 1,000 burpees
Tough Mudder’s Pole Dancer over fire
Tyrolean traverse over an alligator pit
Other suggestions included adding a haiku memorization challenge, and formalizing the Devil’s Trifecta (finisher t-shirts featuring a picture of Norm Koch with horns and holding a lightening bolt).
And, of course, this gem:
You guys are sooo twisted.
Any other wild ideas? Leave them in the comments. Oh, and let’s share the hell out of this post, shall we? I, for one, would love to see an alligator pit make an appearance in Vermont.
Love you all, SOLO