FRAMINGHAM, MA (Sept. 12, 2013) – Spartan Race, Inc., the world’s premier Obstacle Racing Company, known for its innovative challenges, is attracting Olympians from around the globe as well as Xterra, USATF, and Trail World Champions, Professional Obstacle Course Racers, Adventure Racers, Triathletes, and marathon winners for the Reebok Spartan Race World Championships taking place in Killington, Vermont, Sept 21 to 22, 2013. The event will culminate with the naming of the world’s top male and female obstacle racers. The talented crop of athletes, including the Spartan Pro Team, will also be featured in an NBC Sports Network TV special about the World Championships which will air a month later.

Says Spartan Race founder Joe De Sena, “We have some of the most talented athletes from around the globe converging on the Vermont course for the World Championships. It’s going to be the most competitive field we’ve ever seen on a race day. This is what this sport has been waiting for.”

Obstacle Course Racing is the world’s fastest growing participation sport with millions of participants around the globe. Tens of thousands will be on hand for the Second Annual Spartan Race World Championships where $250,000 in cash and prizes will be on the line for the top finishers competing on an infamous central Vermont course.

The Vermont World Championships will feature the Spartan Beast, a half marathon of trail running and Spartan obstacles; a Spartan Sprint, roughly 5K of trails and obstacles; and the world’s only Ultra Beast, more than a marathon of trail running and obstacles for those brave enough to take on the challenge. The Spartan Beast, known for its punishing hills in the Green Mountains, will be the stage for the elite competition heat where the athletes will race head to head in an early morning heat Saturday, September 21st. Racers will tackle a gauntlet of challenging obstacles, including wall climbs, aerial traverses over water, challenging rope climbs, and barbed wire crawls.

All the action will be captured by NBC Sports Group, culminating in a 90-minute TV special that will air on the NBC Sports Network on October 19, 2013.

Notable athletes competing Saturday, Sept. 21 include: U.S. Olympian Cross Country Skier and Pro Trail Runner for Team Solomon, Morgan Arritola. Also, Mexico’s Olympic hopeful Professional Triathlete Octavio Ontiveros, female Olympic Triathlete Fabiola Corona, and Olympic Professional Runner and two-time NYC Marathon Winner German Silva.

Canadian biathlete National Team member Claude Godbout, the defending Spartan Female world champion, will also be in Vermont alongside the 2012 Spartan Male World Champion, Cody Moat, U.S. Spartan Pro Team member and USATF 50-mile National Champion.

Competing on Sunday, Sept. 22: UFC Champion Royce Gracie; Jennifer Penton, star of the TBS Drama “Boston’s Finest”; teammates Tommy Hackenbruck and Mary Lampas, 2012 and 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Affiliate Cup Champions; UFC Fighter Georgi Karakhanyan; NASCAR Pit Crew Member and CrossFit competitor, Christmas Abbott; 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games sixth place finisher, Jen Jones; Kyle Kasperbauer, 2012 CrossFit Games third place finisher; 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games athlete Jen Smith; and Marcus Hendren who took sixth place in the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games.
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About Reebok Spartan Race
Spartan Race, voted Outside Magazine’s Best Obstacle Race in 2012, is the world’s leading Obstacle Course Race and the first of its kind to have global rankings and a Spartan Pro Team in the emerging sport. Partnered with Reebok for a global Obstacle Course Racing series, Spartan will host with over 63 events worldwide and see three quarters of a million participants cross a Spartan finish line in 2013. Spartan Race is a timed event series featuring races at three escalating distances in locations worldwide that culminate in the Vermont World Championship Finale with cash and prizes for the champions. While featuring competitive elite heats, Spartan Races are for athletes of all levels and abilities and are geared towards ripping people off their couches and into the outdoors. For more information about the Reebok Spartan Race and the Spartan World Championships, log onto www.spartanrace.com. For video, see www.spartanrace.tv.