Fort Knox, Ky., – The Spartan Race was held on July 22, welcoming participants from all around the country, including Cadet Summer Training’s very own Cadets and Cadre.
The Spartan Race is a 4.2 mile course designed to test strength and endurance as participants maneuver different obstacles and challenging terrain.
Zari Weaver, student at Temple University, native of Maryland, and a 6th Regiment Basic Camp Cadet, participated in the Spartan Race.
“I just signed up for the Spartan Race, and this is my first time. I ran cross-country and I’ve done half-marathons, so I thought I might as well give it a try, because it’s kind of up my ally, but I’ve never done anything like this before,” said Weaver. “I wasn’t necessarily competing for anything, just trying to have fun.”
Cadets scale a wall obstacle during the Spartan Race, July 22, Fort Knox, Ky. Cadets and Cadre were given the opportunity to participate during the event, a break from regular CST training. (Photo by Mattie Cook)
(Photo by Mattie Cook)
Weaver said that some of the training exercises during Basic Camp helped her navigate the obstacles during the race.
“We’ve done some things like it, where we’ve done confidence courses. I’m extremely afraid of heights, but at every obstacle that had heights I just wasn’t thinking about it, so I think it did prepare me,” said Weaver.
The course has a variety of obstacles that require different kinds of strength and stamina.
“My least favorite was the monkey bars, because my hands were slippery and the monkey bars were way taller than me, so I had to climb up the pole first and then get on the monkey bar and dirty up my hands,” said Weaver. “My favorite obstacle was the last one, where you had to pull a sandbag up, or some weighted bag, and then pull it back down.”
Landon Delisio, student at Penn State University, native of Parker Pennsylvania, and an 8th Regiment Advanced Camp Cadet also competed in the race alongside his fellow teammates.
“[I was] a little nervous coming into it, our bodies are cooked, and of course we are running off MRE’s out here. It was good, my feet have some hotspots, but no open blisters or anything,” said Delisio.
The 8th Regiment Advanced Camp Cadets completed a ruck march the day before the race was held.
(Photo by Jordan McCulley)
Cadets got a break from Cadet Summer Training to take on the Spartan Race, July 22, at Fort Knox, Ky.The course is designed to test both physical endurance and stamina through various obstacles.
(Photo by Jordyn McCulley)
“If you count the 8 mile ruck training we did yesterday, then I guess I did a little bit of training and we’ve done a few other ruck marches,” said Delisio. “Really I was feeling pretty good, a lot of the obstacles are upper body workouts and we haven’t really done a whole lot of upper body since we’ve been in the field, so it’s been nice to get a little workout while out on the obstacle course.”
Battling the heat, exhaustion, and sore muscles from CST on top of maneuvering the different obstacles took a lot of endurance for the Cadets participating.
“The toughest obstacle for me was, I think it was the 100 meter low crawl—well technically the high crawl, you had the razor wire above you and felt at least a 100 meters anyways, it was the third to the last event,” said Delisio. “By the time you get there you’re cooked, and you’re covered in water, so as soon as you start that low crawl you just pick up all that sand, so that was probably the hardest one.”
Cadets and CST Cadre were all given the opportunity to either participate in the race or cheer on their fellow teammates, making the race a great community-wide training event for all.
