A pair of Wildcat athletes tested their strength, endurance, and will power by competing in an extreme physical challenge. Junior John Ryan Sedovy and sophomore Dylan Covington traveled to Richmond, Va. to compete in a Spartan Race.
Held across the nation, Spartan Races are races designed to test competitors’ strength and endurance. They mix distance running with physical challenges and obstacles. Sedovy and Covington made the trip to compete in the race on Saturday, Oct. 13.
Covington and Sedovy went to the race with their fathers, who both had experience with Spartan events. These events can take a few forms, including a marathon style, 14 mile “Beast” race and a shorter sprint race. The pair competed as a team in a four mile sprint that included over 25 obstacles.
“After the start line our first obstacle was a wall that we had to jump over. Then after a quarter mile we had to jump over hay bales, then after another quarter mile there was a five to six foot wall that we had to climb,” said Covington.
The obstacles were challenging for the racers, but the penalty for failing at one of them was harsh.
“I fell on two obstacles and had to do 60 burpees,” said Covington. “Everytime you fail on an obstacle they make you do 30 burpees and that’s really challenging.”
Covington finished in 12th place for the male 14-18 age group. Sedovy took first place in the same division, and placed high in the overall standings. He was on pace for a first place finish, but lost his spot on a particularly challenging obstacle.
“There’s a spear throw. It was something I hadn’t practiced and I missed it. When you miss an obstacle you have to do 30 burpees. That was really challenging and really took me out of the running for first place,” said Sedovy.
Despite being slowed by penalties, Sedovy managed to place sixth overall out of 1,355 males and 2,141 total competitors. He finished the race with a final time of 47 minutes and 48 seconds.
Covington, a former baseball and basketball player, decided to register for the race only three weeks before the event took place.
“I love physical activity and since I’m not playing sports anymore, I thought it was great way to stay physically active and test my strength and speed,” said Covington.
Sedovy chose to sign up for the race after working hard to get in better shape. He was also inspired by his father to compete.
“It’s something that my dad has done before. He actually did a “Beast,” which is about 14 miles. Also, after working all year in Cross Country and strength training I just thought it would be something fun to do and it really was,” said Sedovy.
Both Covington and Sedovy enjoyed their experiences at the 2018 Spartan Race and plan on participating in similar events in the future.