Stellar showing by Canadians at Spartan Race World Championships
Canadians Lindsay Webster, Ryan Atkins and Faye Stenning all reached the podium at the Spartan Race World Championships on Saturday.
Canadians accounted for 50 per cent of the Elite Beast podium spots at the Reebok Spartan Race World Championships at North Lake Tahoe, Calif. on Saturday.
Lindsay Webster and Faye Stenning finished second and third in the NBC World Championship category. Ryan Atkins, who is married to Webster, finished second in the men’s elite division at the world championships to make it a double-silver for the couple. Spartan Race is a brand of obstacle course racing held in Canada and the United States.
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The Spartan Race pinnacle comes after the trio of Canadians dominated the U.S. Spartan Series this past summer. Webster and Atkins were winners of the series where obstacle course racers accumulate points based on their positions at a number of high-profiled events across the U.S.
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An estimated 10,000 athletes from around the world were set to compete at this weekend’s races where the elite winner took home US$15,000. Obstacle course racers qualified for the world championships by placing in the top-five in eligible qualifying races.
In the women’s Elite Beast race, Webster and Stenning finished with an identical time as their finish came down to the wire. Both clocked 2:58:24 for the course that was described as 19-22K involving 30-35 obstacles. The Canadians finished 12 minutes back of the winner, Zuzana Kocumova.
For Atkins, the Ontario native was just 27 seconds behind the world champion in the Beast – Elite section, which served as the Spartan Race Championships. The 29-year-old finished in 2:25:59 and added a second-place finish at the world championships to his U.S. Spartan Race series title from this summer.
The venue for the event was North Lake Tahoe at Squaw Valley Resort, the site of select events at the 1960 Winter Olympics. The Ultra Beast races, which are longer than a marathon, are still to come on Sunday. Both defending champions are Canadian (Michelle Ford and Kevin Lavoie).