WHITEFISH — Imagine this, you have joined a race where you have to sprint five miles, but those five miles have fifteen obstacles. What if you're an Ultra runner? You're looking at about sixty miles with around forty-five obstacles. This is a very real race and it's coming right here to Western Montana.
"I love it. It was the first Spartan Race that I had ever done. The first time I did it, I had no idea what I was doing. I think I signed up like maybe a week before, probably more like three days. I just showed up and went had fun. Spartan Races are way more interactive, you talk to other people you have to figure out how to do the obstacles," competitor and personal trainer Scarlet Kaplan said.
Kaplan knows her clients have to prepare for the Spartan Race differently than any other, and time is winding down since the competition is set for May 7th and 8th in Bigfork.
"I incorporate a lot of like grip strength work because that's something that most people don't do and that's something that is super important, especially because there's so many different kinds of like monkey bars and rings and things like that," Kaplan said.
But this race doesn't just bring a fun event to the valley. It also has a huge economic impact.
Executive Director of Discover Kalispell Diane Medler said, "We calculate the economic impact based on the ratios coming in from out of the market. And then also there's the impact to our local businesses, such as we have local food vendors on site at the restaurant."
