2019 November: United Kingdom Age Group Stadion

OPENING QUOTE

Setting the Scene

It’s November 2019. It has been one year since I last competed in a Spartan event but I’ve not been inactive over this time as I’ve been in training for other sporting activities. I am at Twickenham Stadium in London, England, about to take part in the first Spartan Stadion race in the UK.

The Historical Context

In ancient Greece, a stadion was a foot-race that took place on a straight length of running track and was roughly equivalent to a distance of 200 metres. From the archaeological evidence, it appears that the actual distance of the race was not standardized, ranging in length from 177 metres at Delphi to 225 metres at Aphrodisias. At Olympia, the stadion track was 192 metres.

The race was named after the space in which it took place, a stadion. Through the Latin of ancient Rome, this ancient Greek word has entered the English language as “stadium”, which in modern usage is defined as, “an athletic or sports ground with tiers of seats for spectators”.

For the first 13 Olympic games (776 BCE to 728 BCE), the stadion was the only event. Over time longer races (and other events) were added. For example, the dolichos was a distance race ranging from 7 to 20 stadion (7 to 20 lengths of the track). For races that were longer than one stadion, a small turning post was installed in the centre of the finish line.

In history, the stadion race was the premier event at three of the four Panhellenic festivals of the ancient world: the Olympic games, the Pythian games, and the Nemean games. The fourth festival, the Isthmian games, focussed more on the combat sports of pankration (an empty-hand submission sport with hardly any rules), wrestling, and boxing, and seemingly out of place amongst the machismo of the other events to our modern eyes, musical and poetry contests.

On their website, Spartan state that nearly 2,800 years ago the stadion race was held at the first ever Olympic games. Fast-forward to today and the Spartan Stadion event honours that tradition. The first Spartan Stadion race in the UK took place on the 23rd November 2019 at Twickenham Stadium, the home of England Rugby, in London, England. And, I was there.

My Race

At 16 years of age, this was my first Spartan Stadion. The race distance was measured at 5 km (or 25 stadion in ancient terms) and therefore the Stadion is the shortest Spartan event that I have attended. Even though the distance was shorter, there were still 21 obstacles to be completed.

“Life is like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

Quote from Seneca: A Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist. 4 BCE to 65 CE.

The race location was excellent, as they always are. Built in 1909, Twickenham Stadium is the largest dedicated rugby union stadium in the world and has a crowd capacity of 82,000. Walking towards the stadium from Twickenham train station, which is a short walk of approximately 10 minutes (1 km), the stadium looms ever larger, a modern-day Colosseum. Twickenham Stadium is an impressive sight from the outside but making my way through the tunnel to the starting line within the stadium, it opens out on to an immaculate playing field embraced by multiple tiers of spectator seating and becomes majestic.

When I signed-up for the race, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Stadion event becauseI had never run inside a stadium before. How would the obstacles be arranged? How would a distance of 5 km be covered within the confines of a stadium? Without terrain features, how would the race organizers challenge the fitness of competitors? These questions would be answered as soon as the starting line was crossed.

I entered the Age Group category. I was bib number 24265. My start time was 08:30 hrs. The weather was damp and overcast but at least it wasn’t raining yet, as was forecast. The temperature wasn’t too cold but this was my first Spartan Race set in a northern hemisphere winter.

ADD

Race Statistics

5 km and 21 obstacles.

Race data table