First post-lockdown Spartan event held in Florida

In May, it was announced that Spartan races would be returning soon, with a multi-day event set for June 13 and 14 in Jacksonville, Fla. Spartan CEO Joe De Sena told Obstacle Racing Media that he and his team expected 4,000 participants per day at the Florida event, although it was eventually reduced to one day instead of two, and a cap of 1,400 participants was added. Organizers implemented many safety guidelines for the event—which featured 5K of running and 20 obstacles—and De Sena said in a press release that Spartan “showed the world there is a safe way for endurance sports to return.”  

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Safety guidelines

When discussing the Spartan return with Obstacle Racing Media, De Sena said his team had “procedures in place to make a Spartan event safer than going grocery shopping, going to Starbucks or going in an elevator.”

RELATED: Spartan races set to return despite COVID-19

In the post-race press release, Mike Morris, Spartan’s vice president of production, echoed De Sena’s words, reiterating that the event was planned with safety as the top priority.

“The time was right for the Spartan community to safely return to the course, and we’re grateful to the state of Florida and city of Jacksonville for hosting this milestone event,” Morris said. “We worked closely with local officials and consulted medical and safety experts to create the event protocol, reimagining the entire experience.”  

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At the venue, staff and volunteers wore wear masks at all times, and participants were asked to wear their own face coverings before and after the race. When racers arrived, they received contactless temperature checks, and anyone with a reading of 100.4 F or higher wasn’t allowed to enter the event. Spartan reduced its race capacity by more than 70 per cent of a regular, pre-coronavirus event, and the race start was staggered with groups of 24 people leaving in five-minute intervals to make it easier for social distancing while on the course.

“Our racers, who wanted to return to the course after nearly three months, respected our rules,” Morris said. “And [they] had a lot of fun in the process.” 

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COVID-19 in Florida

De Sena and the Spartan team were confident that they could run a safe event, but their enthusiasm was not shared by everyone. Many people took to Twitter to voice their uncertainty regarding the decision for Spartan to return to racing so soon, especially in Florida, where COVID-19 numbers are still on the rise.

Four days ago Florida recorded 1371 new daily cases, their 3rd worst day ever. The next three days all set new one-day highs. Yesterday broke the record (set the day before) by like 25%. Gonna be a fun Republican Convention! https://t.co/pak9bmVJ5R

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) June 14, 2020

According to COVID-19 statistics from Google News, in the days leading up to Saturday’s race in Jacksonville, the state of Florida recorded single-day records for new reported cases on June 11 and 12. On race day, the state beat it’s one-day high once again, topping the previous day’s record with about a 25 per cent increase and more than 2,500 new cases.