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One of the global sporting and race events that fitness enthusiasts look forward to is Spartan Race. In fact, it’s a community of more than 10 million individuals globally. On a mission to promote limitless possibilities, Spartan Race creates transformational experiences, products, and content to help individuals, companies, and even teams to reach their full potential.
The 4 Most Exciting New Developments In Spartan Race Philippines
Shifting to the new normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spartan Race is now composed of extensive global events with vibrant digital content and a community platform. Spartan Race has over 250 events in over 40 countries on six continents, making it the world’s leading wellness and endurance brand.
Spartan Race in the Philippines
The Spartan Race is a fairly young sporting event in the Philippines, starting in 2017 with the first Spartan Sprint in Timberland, Rizal.
This year marks the return of the Spartan Race to the Philippines since the COVID-19 pandemic. Spartan Philippines has partnered with Batangas Lakelands to build a semi-permanent structure at the facility to cater to racing in the new normal.
Spartan Race Philippines returns after its 2020 break for the Now-Normal
Like other events, Spartan Race Philippines took a temporary break in 2020. However, with its return this year, Spartan Philippines has several exciting developments in store for fitness and sporting buffs.
Breaking the mentality of waiting for things to go back to the way they used to be, Spartan Race Philippines is slowly opening races in what it calls the “Now Normal.”
What to look forward to in Spartan Race Philippines
This 2021 as well as the succeeding years, Spartan Race Philippines has lined up some exciting events and developments for sports and fitness aficionados.
Here are some of the things to look forward to:
1. The resumption of the Spartan Race events this year
This, of course, is the most exciting news of all. The latter half of the year has a great lineup of events to welcome the return of Spartan Race Philippines, namely:
- Spartan Race Sprint – 5KM/20 Obstacles (happening on September 25 and 26, October 9 and 10, October 23 and 24, and November 6 and 7 at the Batangas Lakelands, Balete, Batangas).
- Spartan Race Beast, 21KM/30 Obstacles and Spartan Race Ultra, 50KM/60 Obstacles (to be held on December 18 and 19 at the Lima Technology Park, Batangas)
- Spartan Extreme Endurance 12 Hour (to be held sometime in November at San Antonio, Zambales)
- Virtual Spartan Trail (this will happen from October-December in Select Trail routes all over the country)
2. New Spartan Races for 2022
Starting next year, Spartan Race Philippines is adding three new and exciting race events. These are the following:
- La Ruta - this is the first-ever Asian-based qualifying race and is the hardest mountain bike race in the world, traversing Costa Rica from coast to coast, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, over a grueling three-day period.
- Spartan Stadion - this is a 5 km, 20 obstacle race through the world’s most famous pro sports stadiums. Giving this ancient Greek tradition a twist, competitors will race through stadiums in the Philippines.
- DEKA™ - the decathlon of functional fitness designed for all levels. This event emphasizes training with a purpose, exercise gamification, and plenty of opportunities to celebrate personal fitness, combining ten functional training zones each proceeding by 500 meters of running (5k total).
3. Launching of the Spartan Ambassador Program
Spartan Race ambassadors are composed of athletes who inspire others people to adopt physical fitness as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. As ambassadors, these athletes embody the Spartan ideals of community, commitment, and not giving up.
Meet the 14 Spartan Ambassadors:
- Steve Near – a Filipino-German athlete who is into track, basketball, and American football. Steve is also one of the few chosen athletes to represent the country on the National Rugby Team.
- Lharbs Policarpio – an actor, model, and social media influencer whose aim is to inspire people to take care of their bodies and live healthy lifestyles.
- JP Yap - an entrepreneur, certified nutritionist, and acclaimed bodybuilder that have brought a lot of pride to the country.
- Kaizen de la Serna - a national athlete for Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation for both Ninja and Parkour. Kaizen is the youngest gold medalist last 2019 at SEA Games – Obstacle Sports. She recently clinched 15th at UNAA World Ninja Championship.
- Brigitte Lim - the Vice President of Topline Group of Companies. Brigitte is a mom who keeps an active lifestyle with an array of sports from Rock Climbing, Scuba Diving, and of course, Obstacle Course Racing.
- Kitch Gamilla - a dog mom, a full-time employee, a vegetarian, and devotes her free time to community coaching. She is a finisher in the Southeast Asian Championship for her age group, in which she won 2nd place in the Asia Pacific Championship.
- Lairca Nicdao – a working student who loves sports, she is also active on YouTube, shares beauty, lifestyle, and travel videos that promote self-efficacy and empowerment among people with disabilities.
- Aga Casidsid – a determined athlete who doesn’t let visual impairment get in the way of racing. He asserts that running has become his outlet to feel alive again, proving that regardless of his condition he will be able to make his every run an adventure in life.
- Rkin Casanada – he aims to influence his generation to achieve goals, conquer obstacles, and celebrate accomplishments - all that while having tons of fun and always having a great time.
- Nicolette Muralla-Celis - at a young age, she joins the Spartan community workouts before her first race in Spartan Kids Vermosa back in 2019.
- Marc Celis - the head coach of Spartan SGX Kalabaw, together with his team of coaches and training team, they go around teaching and are available virtually to get people back to fitness.
- Xenos Soto - an engineer by profession and a spartan coach at heart, the first ever Pinoy SGX coach has been busy along with Team Bato making sure Philippines does not run out of capable athletes to represent the country all over the world.
- Frida Anduyan - a resident SGX Coach at Fitness First Philippines, Spartan’s Fitness Partner. Together with other SGX coaches, they make sure members are race ready any given day.
- Iris Torculas - she first started in the fitness community as a runner and have been one of the most trusted coaches when it comes to leveling up an athlete’s training.
4. Organizing a Spartan Pro Team
The Spartan Pro Team was organized to show the Philippines and the rest of the world that there are serious Filipino athletes who travel to different parts of the world to compete almost every weekend.
Here are the members of the Spartan Pro team:
- Gabb Rosario – the team captain and is an athlete, father, trainer, and leader.
- Jeff Reginio – a full-time employee who devotes a good amount of his time to training.
- Sherwin Managil - a professional triathlete and coach from Cebu.
- Mervin Guarte – a serviceman for the country and athlete.
- Wellington “Beef’ Co – he embodies the transformation of going from open races to the age group to elite finishes harnessing a mentality to keep pushing a better performance than his last.
- Diana Buhler - has completed numerous Spartan Races globally making her a fierce competitor.
- Sandi Menchi – a top ultramarathoner and trail runner in the country.
- Glorien Merisco - has been killing it on the course on a global scale, always bringing her “A” game, setting her eyes on the prize making her presence known as one of the toughest Spartans out there.
What to keep in mind during the Spartan Races
Health and safety are of utmost importance. As such, participants need to strictly follow these protocols:
- Athletes will be asked to present either their vaccination card or a negative RT-PCR Test or Laboratory Generated Antigen Test not more than 72 hours before the race.
- All athletes will still have to undergo triage before entering the venue and must fill out all the mandatory health declaration forms, and contact tracing.
- All participants are required to put on a mask at all times.
National Series Rules
The following rules shall remain effective during the events:
- Best 3 out of 4 races for the Elite Athletes will be counted towards their series ranking.
- All race levels are scored the same. Regardless of how many races you join, the total points will be considered for your series ranking.
- There are no separate Age Group divisions or Master’s divisions within the Elite category.
- Only the First Heat of the Saturday Race will count towards the series ranking, other races held that weekend do not count towards the series.
- Due to the COVID-19 protocol, racers will be assigned to run in sets with a 5-second gap in between. Note that the first athlete to cross the finish line may not be the fastest due to the gap in start time and the final result will be based on the official timing chips.
Epilogue
The Spartan Race Philippines is back after being on a break in 2020. Sports and fitness fans can look forward to the same exciting race events with a few other developments that supporters will be happy to know about.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, a few important changes have been put in place to ensure the health and safety of all participants.
For questions and concerns, you may direct them to our email at marc.celis@spartanrace.ph and/or beef@spartanrace.ph. Visit spartan.com for more information and registration.
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