Život mezi překážkami: Spartan Quest 2019: Zakopane Sprint

https://meziprekazkami.blogspot.com/2019/05/spartan-quest-2019-zakopane-sprint.html#more

Tatry mountains foothill Sprint, on which I had to push far more than I imagined before. The combination of slopes, this year's unusual heat and the cleverly thought-out track didn't let me rest for any moment. Actually, I was running entire race with my tongue lolling out...
On Tuesday, snow was seen everywhere on the webcam in Bialka Tatrzanska. Though it got off on Thursday, I didn't expect to suffer from the heat.

Immediately after the start we had to climb the slope. For about 600 meters long ascent stretched the racers' crowd enough not to queue on subsequent OUO and Irish bench obstacles. After the forest singletrack, the balance beam came. A lot of people failed there. I walked over and the number of runners around me desceased significantly. After a lot of muddy roads, with my tongue out, I ran to the top of the hill, under which the Monkeybar gleamed from distance. I was quite curious about this, because in Kutná Hora (CZE) everyone had to jump up on the first pole, which made it very difficult for smaller people, including me, to overcome it. The boarding structure gleamed satisfactorily at the base of the obstacle so the Monkeybar was no complication at all. The burpee zone was empty except for a few unfortunates. There was another uphill climb in which most people, including me, slowed down to an Indian run. There was one lower wall in the middle of the hill and the rope climb behind it. And uphill again... There was another pair of obstacles at the end of a fairly long climb. Inverted Wall and right behind the Multiring. This time, it was really only made of circles, so nothing that could threatened Age Group racers.

But after a short run, the sandbags came, which really took a lot of my strength. I wasnť even able to bother the male racer, who had been shamelessly dumping sand out of his bag...
Steepy downhill run... A was observing dozens of empty alcohol flasks, which remained after the ski season along the route. And of course, many cow, sheep and goat droppings, which gave the whole race an unmistakable flavor. So just don´t fall into it :) Difficult to solve this when crawling under the barbed wire. There, at one point, I managed to touch the wire with my backrear, so I don't have one but two big holes on my hard-wearing shorts. They can at least chat :D
Before I manage to rest a bit I was already digging the gravel into the bucket. Fortunately, the section was not long. When I threw the bucket away at the end.
There was nothing to rejoice about because the Atlas Stones were seen about 200 meters away.

The stretch between bucket carry and Atlas stones carry was interupted by Z-Wall. For some unclear reason, I caught up with a competitor in the line ahead. That doesn't really happen to me on Z-Wall. I was always the one who was responsible for "traffic jam" there :) On the Atlas I did five compulsory burpees in the totally waterlogged grass which made me look like a piglet within 20 seconds. Doesn´t matter, the festival area and finish were close, and I realized that the moment of the true is coming. The moment which will decide whether or not will I accomplish Sprint without burpees for the first time. After the Slip Wall the Spear throw came. But this time I threw it like a total idiot and my attempt had no chance of success. So, no "clear" race today. I did my 30 burpees as fast as I could and rushed to the Herculest Hoist, over A cargo frame and Fire jump to the finish line. I knew I was very slow in the uphill parts of the race, so I was not too hopeful for good placement. Luckily I managed to squeeze to top 10 afterall, so I could still be happy.

What is worth of mentioning is absolutely icy shower after the race. Water was so icecold that I had to finish my attemtp to wash myself in the moment I stopped to feel my fingers and started to suffer from both feet cramps. What springed in my mind in that moment was that we recieve discount to local thermal spa in the start-pack... :)

Final score:

6,5 km + 30 burpees = 1:08:54 finish time.

Rank:10th place AG 30-34, 7th place CEU regional series

My personal evaluation:

Very nice place. Interesting location. Well organized event. Quite difficult Sprint.

The next stop:

Spartan Race Beast Andorra (Spanish national series)