The Event: The Ultra Beast is the first marathon/marathon+ length obstacle race. Competitors had to go through an application process and not everybody was accepted. It consisted of 2 laps through the regular Beast course with time cutoffs to ensure competitiveness. Anybody finishing in under 11 hours was awarded a Spartan Race 2013 Season's Pass.

The Event: The Death Race is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical beating. Hard, grueling terrain mixed with strenuous challenges and combined with a healthy dose of mind games make this event unique in the newly evolving world of obstacle races, and as far as I know it, it is unique in the more established adventure race world as well. Competitors don’t have any realistic idea about course length in miles or hours, and the only given is that they’ll have to chop wood somewhere along the line.

The Event: Spartan Races call themselves the “world leader in obstacle racing”. They have multiple event formats from their 5k Sprints, to their 8 mile Supers, to the 10+ mile Beasts, culminating in the multi-day Death Race. This was the first Beast, and it was obvious they were going to try to make a splash competing with other events out there of similar distances.