EVENT REVIEW: Manchester Spartan Sprint OCR

It’s been a wee while since we’ve been out in the OCR world. A slight hiatus since the failed attempt to conquer Dirty Weekend has been (a) frustrating but (b) probably for the best. I’ve managed to get some miles in the legs and also build up a bit more strength, always handy for taking on the myriad obstacles thrown at us by the race directors.

This week’s episode of Team MUBU’s “Seriously how good was that?” OCR review is the Sprint edition of Manchester Spartan. Clocking in at 3+ miles and 15ish obstacles this is the baby of the Spartan family, but still a critical part of that impressive trifecta medal that so many crave.

MANCHESTER SPARTAN SPRINT

3ish miles OCR

July 4^th 2015

Heaton Park, Manchester

Along with Tough Mudder, Spartan is probably one of the most recognisable and well-known OCR brands out there. There has been plenty of upheaval and change over the last few years as the company has grown and evolved , along with the OCR industry as a whole. Some changes have been good, some less well received. 

This is my second Spartan race after completing the now-defunct Yorkshire Sprint last year, it was always going to be interesting to see how it went.

Pre-Race Day Organisation

Plenty of emails from Spartan in the run-up to the event, making sure you were well prepared and full of all the information you needed. Throw in a free local Spartan training session for those who managed to get themselves out of bed (we failed) and you have a pretty good preparation for the race. Only thing I would say is that they need to sort out the pre-registration for the junior races (though this is more down to Trumin than Spartan). We had great difficulty registering our 7 year old because she didn’t have her own email account and we didn’t really have a spare one to register here against (you can’t use one that already has a Trumin account)!

8 – Very Good

Event Facilities

Slightly disappointing considering the Sprint and Super were both run on the same day. I think Spartan missed a trick really, they could have thrown plenty more stalls on the site as there were a good chunk of people at the site for most of the day. We had friends running both so hung around for a good few hours post-race, yet there was nothing really to spend money on – and no beer curiously! Still there were plenty of toilets and we parked very close to the main venue for free so no grumbles there.

7 - Good

Registration and Race Day Organisation

Generally pretty good provided you had your ID and waiver ready. Probably could have done with a few more people at the registration desks to make things move a bit smoother but it is very difficult to get staffing levels right for these things and it wasn’t too bad. Like the pre-race organisation, a bit more thought is needed with respect to the junior races as young children aren’t likely to have email accounts to themselves that often!

8 – Very Good

Location and Watchability
For us this was ideal, 15 minutes down the road rather than the usual 2 hour drive down to the Midlands. Plus you could see plenty of the course (including the rope climb and spear throw) from the event village and it wasn’t much of a wander to go and see other things if you wanted to.

9 - Excellent

On course facilities

One water station on the Sprint race (though apparently I ran right past it!. A distinct lack of distance markers or obstacle counts though (Reaper does a good thing were it tells you the number of each obstacle – I like this as it helps with pacing yourself). There seemed to be plenty of Crew around and everyone seemed relatively friendly and helpful.

7 – Good

Warm-up and briefings

Pretty poor really considering the history of Spartan Race and it’s beliefs and ideals. A few chants of “Arooooooo” is all fun but I always like to see a good warm up before the race (especially for the Sprint race which has less, er, “athletes” in it ). I don’t mind the Super not needing one as I saw most people warming themselves up ahead of it but the Spring needed one.

4 – Below Average

Variety of obstacles

A reasonable mix of up, down, over, round and through here. Spartan always has some unique obstacles that I haven’t seen anywhere else (spear toss, pulley lift etc..) so there is usually something different here. Probably could have done with a few more of the ones we saw at Yorkshire last year but generally this was good.

7 - Good

Obstacle-to-run Mix

Probably 2 or 3 obstacles short of being the ideal mix. You didn’t really have any massively long and tedious running-only sections in the Sprint race (mainly as it isn’t really long enough for that). But I felt like we got slightly short-changed with the obstacles this year and could have done with a few more. We had a frustratingly long queue at the first obstacle but generally were ok after that.

7 - Good

Usage of Terrain and Nature

Heaton Park is relatively flat and a public park so it is always difficult to have full control over the terrain and the facilities. I thought they did a reasonable job of utilising what was there (though a nice lake dip would have been welcome considering the temperature) and the route seemed to have been quite well thought out once everyone got over the first wall and away.

7 - Good

Post-Race Pack

A bit disappointing really, especially considering the Post-Race Pack at Spartan Yorkshire last year was top quality. Everything seems to be about the medal (and I’ll admit it is a cracker) but other than that it wasn’t great. The T-shirt is nice enough (if non-tech) but a bag of Haribo lookalikes and a plastic cup of water felt a bit disappointing when compared to other offerings. You did get a card which allowed you to get a freebie from five different stalls around the venue but none of it was stuff that you really want after a race!

6 – Above Average

Course Difficulty: 5

Obstacle Difficulty: 6

Surprisingly considering its reputation I found this one to be quite easy. The lack of real hills makes a huge different to the course difficulty, compare this with something like Total Warrior Lakes and you begin to understand how much that matters. Obstacle wish I pretty much managed anything with no bother (except the rope climb). I do think Spartan need to reconsider the burpee penalty though, it just seems disproportionate and, TBH, most people not in the elite waves can’t do 30 one more than a couple of occasions, so they don’t.

Overall Thoughts

The lure of the Trifecta will always bring people back to Spartan (and I’ll be honest and say that I’m already committed to next year for that very reason). But taken in isolation I think Spartan need to do a bit more to keep up with those OCRs that are coming along with similar concepts (Pain and Suffering, Dirty Dozen etc..), they can’t stand still and rely on reputation. This was fun, friendly and still a good challenge – but your rivals are catching you (and in some cases have already passed you).

Overall Score

7.0 – Still an enjoyable bit of “Aroooooooooo”ing – but I’d like to see Spartan up their game for next year.

A reminder of the system

10.0 Nothing will ever get 10.0, you should always strive for better

9.5 Sell organs AND children. And everything you own. About as good as it gets

9.0 Sell organs and/or children to do this event every single time

8.5 Highly recommended indeed, this gets booked as soon as it is released

8.0 A very good event, only money or illness would stop this being a yearly thing

7.5 Definitely one to recommend. Not much would keep me away

7.0 On the list for another go, though not necessarily an automatic selection

6.5 Would do this one again if the stars aligned, but wouldn’t break the bank for it

6.0 Was fun but only a very cheap deal and a free weekend would tempt me again

below 6.0 Not for me for one reason or another.

EVENT REVIEWS SO FAR

8.0 Tough Guy

7.5 Reaper Day Race

7.5 Dirty Weekend

7.5 Yorkshire Warrior (Year 1)

7.0 Tough Mudder North West

7.0 Iron Run

7.0 Survival of the Fittest Manchester (Years 1 and 2)

7.0 Spartan Sprint Yorkshire

7.0 Total Warrior Lake District

7.0 SPARTAN SPRINT MANCHESTER

7.0 Yorkshire Warrior (Year 2)

7.0 Avalanche - Chase the Yeti

7.0 Deerstalker

6.5 Mighty Deerstalker

6.5 Pandemonium Iced

6.5 Stockton River Rat Race

6.0 Ram Run

Next up is Mudnificent 7 on 1^st August. The first “multi-branded” OCR, this should be cracking as all 7 brands will be desperate to showcase the best of their race in each kilometre. It’ll be obstacle-tastic! Plus I’ve been to the venue before for Reaper and loved it; all-in-all I can’t wait.

Till next time,

DT