Welcome to beautiful Salinas, California. This race venue is teeming with picturesque woods, rolling golden hills, and features some of the most ideal coastal California weather you will find. A true fan favorite, this course boasts all the demanding features that you’ve come to know from Spartan; brutal climbs, open …
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Welcome to beautiful Salinas, California. This race venue is teeming with picturesque woods, rolling golden hills, and features some of the most ideal coastal California weather you will find. A true fan favorite, this course boasts all the demanding features that you’ve come to know from Spartan; brutal climbs, open field sprints, and our famous punishing obstacles, all ready to set your muscles ablaze.
Come pound your way through these rugged trails while enjoying some of the most beautiful views the Golden State has to offer. While your muscles will be on fire, begging for mercy, the awe-inspiring scenery makes everything worth it. What an amazing place to truly become unbreakable.
This weekend also features Spartan Trail Races.
All finishers receive a T-shirt, medal and professional photos, and every registration comes with access to the Spartan Account to track your tickets, race results, photos, teams, and challenges.
TOP REASONS TO TAKE ON THIS COURSE:
1. Monterey and Salinas are both within short driving distance so Spartans have the choice of where to entertain themselves with some wonderful sights and sounds. There’s also a nice selection of restaurants to carb-up before the race, or celebrate afterwards.
2. For the motorsport enthusiast, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a must. Located less than seven miles away, why not visit this famous race track once you have completed your race?
3. Cannery Row, the historic waterfront district, is a popular destination for shoppers, diners and visitors of Monterey.
4. The Monterey County Fair and Event Center is a great place to catch some entertainment. With a fair or event happening almost all the time, it’s definitely worth checking their website for things to do.
5. If you want to hit the beach, Monterey State beach is your destination for rest and relaxation. Miles of sand make up the beautiful coastline. Take it all in.
6. Downtown Monterey is a bustling metropolis of live music, bars, restaurants and other things to do. Once you’ve conquered the race, celebrate in style with fellow racers into the night.
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Good challenge
Very steep uphills and down hills. Was in so much pain. Luckily I had my buddy with me. If you trying to speed through, not likely. Lots of narrow paths … MORE
Very steep uphills and down hills. Was in so much pain. Luckily I had my buddy with me. If you trying to speed through, not likely. Lots of narrow paths so you get stuck behind people, forced to go to their speed. Been a while since I did a Spartan race. Two or three new obstscles to me. The venue was okay.
AROO
This is my second Spartan Race. My first was the Lake Tahoe Beast. This is a lot easier in comparison. Course layout: This is a hilly course with multiple steep … MORE
This is my second Spartan Race. My first was the Lake Tahoe Beast. This is a lot easier in comparison.
Course layout: This is a hilly course with multiple steep terrain, but totally doable. Since I have done the World Championship course, the amount of incline here is insignificant in comparison. I gave a 3/5 for difficulty. Please note that there are multiple loose dirt steep downhill. If you are not used to running downhill will minimum footing, it could be a difficult course for you to finish. For those who are competitive, you may have trouble passing people due to narrow trail and slow-down at some steep downhill area. You’ll better be ready to scream “RUNNER!!!” multiple time unless you get to be in the front pack of elite wave. Unfortunately, even in competitive wave, there are still way too many people walking the hills. That really slow me down when I can’t pass them off easily.
Obstacles: There’s no fire in this year’s race. I don’t know about the history though. You can expect the usual with walls, bucket and dunk. After the Tahoe experience of bucket, I think this bucket obstacle is much doable, shorter hill to climb and gravels instead of semi-wet dirt. Personally I still hate the barbed wire, because I get super dizzy from rolling on my side. Thank God, it’s not as long as the one in Tahoe, otherwise, I would have thrown up. You may want to figure out a tactic for motion sickness or crawl you way through instead.
Scenery: The course is primarily chaparral and grassland with sparse oak woodland. Honestly, once the race starts, I hardly focus on the scenery but rather making sure I have the proper footing to avoid injury or tripping over. Therefore, I don’t think I would be a fair judge of the scenery. But again I was not there to hike, I was there for the obstacle course to challenge myself.
Race production: The bib pick-up was quick. The only thing worth mentioning is that waiver is provided on-site to be signed. I printed out mine, but they said they revised it. This happened at the Lake Tahoe Beast, too. Basically, the online waiver version is useless if they keep revising it last minute. Just be there early enough to sign the waiver. Due to no parking at the actual course, parking is elsewhere and people must take a shuttle to get in. If you do your homework and read the email, you would have known that and be prepared for an early arrival. I had to wake up at 3pm to start driving. Next time, I should have stay at somewhere nearby.
Swag: You get a finisher medal along with a T-shirt. I love the quality of their T-shirt. It’s soft and fitted and comfortable. You also get a slice of the Trifecta medal. Collect 3 of different pieces to complete the medal.