A Western Canadian Tops The Canadian Elite Spartan Race Series Point Race For The First Time by Adam Kwitko

2015 marked the first year a Western Canadian man or woman cracked the overall top 6 in the Canada Elite Spartan Race Elite Series Point Race. Allison Tai (Vancouver) won the women’s and overall point race, Claude Godbout (Quebec City) 2 ^nd women and 3 ^rd overall and Faye Stenning (Calgary) finished 3 ^rd woman and 4 ^th overall.

The men’s points title was won by Jesse Bruce (Toronto) placing him 2 ^nd overall, Marc Andre Bedard (Quebec City) finished 2 ^nd man, 5 ^th overall and Austin Azar (Edmonton) finished 3 ^rd man and 6 ^th overall. The top 3 men’s and woman’s finishers were therefor split 50/50 between eastern and western Canadians.

2013 and 2014 saw Chris Beringer (Calgary) as the top Western Canadian in the Canada Elite Spartan Race Series Point Race at 5 ^th man, 7 ^th overall in 2013 and 14 ^th man, 20 ^th overall in 2014.

Western Canadians generally have to fly to at least one race in order to run the required 5 Canadian Spartan Races to top the points race list. Race venues are significantly further apart compared to those in Eastern Canada, which with the possible exception of Spartan Race Halifax (RIP) are all within driving distance from each other. Western Canada Spartan Races also have far less elite races, as dual sprint weekends (Calgary and Northern Alberta) only feature an elite race on the Saturday, while Sunday consists of open heats.

That said the Spartan Race series points race appears to have lost some of it’s past prestige with the introduction of the World Championships qualification standards having little to do with race series points, at least in Canada. While the top 50 men and women in the US point series standings did automatically qualify into the 2015 Spartan Race World Championships, those 50 in all likelihood earned their qualifying coin in at least one of the 5 races they ran. An undisclosed number of top international finishers in the global points series did receive VIP accommodation and gift bags, including hillside hotel, Reebok apparel and shoes. The top 150 men and women in the US elite series also received one complimentary race entry while the Platinum Rig/Spartan Race Team Canada for top 6 Canadian men and women introduced in 2014 was not in effect this year.

Do you care about the Canada Elite Spartan Race Series Point Race open, elite or global? Let us know in the comments.

Adam Kwitko | Is an endurance sports journalist, producer and race operations professional. He is an avid OCR racer, trail runner and honey addict.