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FORT CARSON, Colo. (May 5, 2015) -- Fort Carson recently became the model for the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation's, or MWR's, partnership with Reebok Spartan Races.
"The Mountain Post" played host to its fourth-annual Reebok Spartan Colorado Sprint, a 4.8-mile footrace that featured 22 obstacles, such as barbed wire crawl, bucket carry, monkey net, water pit, rope climb, slippery wall and fire jump, among various other adversities surrounding "Agony Hill."
The success of the Carson-based races convinced Army MWR to partner with Spartan to bring more of the ultra-challenging obstacle-course races to installations throughout the world. The revenue generated by Spartan's use of military venues benefits MWR programs for Soldiers and their Families.
"In my view, obstacle courses are military history," said Rusty Schellman, Spartan director of real estate and military markets and a veteran Army Chief Warrant Officer 2, who flew Blackhawk helicopters during Operation Desert Storm. "They oftentimes are referred to in some circles as confidence courses - they build confidence, they build your fitness, you learn to trust yourself and your instincts. [Spartan founder/owner] Joe DeSena's vision was to toughen people up; that we've gotten soft over the years."
Soldiers have tackled obstacle courses since the day they stepped into basic training, but only during recent years has mainstream America embraced such self-tortuous competition as recreational fun.
"Ironically, I'm even hearing that from some of the base commanders saying we've got to get our guys active; we've got to engage the Soldiers in fitness again; we've got to get them off the couches and get them away from their video games," Schellman said. "I have heard on three different bases where I've sat with the commanders - they've all said that - they really want to see their Soldiers get out and get active."
The inaugural Fort Carson Spartan Race drew 5,000 participants in 2012. The fields topped 9,000 participants during each of the next two years, and more than 7,000 completed a new course this year.
Waves of about 250 competitors started every 15 to 30 minutes during the recent competition. The elite Spartan men began at 7:30 a.m., followed by the elite women. Spartans of all ages, shapes and sizes pounded the treacherous terrain until a thunderstorm closed camp around 4 p.m.
Spartan did it again the next day.
Barness estimated that around 30 percent of the competitors were "true military," even more when counting Family members.
"Spartan is a culture," Barness said. "There's a following that's enormous. They have their own workout programs. They build upon themselves."
Like many sports activities, Spartan is somewhat of a Family affair.
"You see the impact that it has with the Families, who are out here," said Fort Carson Garrison Commander Col. Joel Hamilton. "We started the event off with the elite athletes, and that was just phenomenal to watch.
"But even bigger than that is when you see the incorporation of the kids with the kids' course. There are a lot of kids, and people from all walks of life - such a diverse group. There's a lot of camaraderie."
Hamilton voiced his opinion about what brought so many folks together for a weekend of Spartan festivities on the Fort Carson plains, just south of Colorado Springs.
"I think it's about overcoming adversity, in a series of obstacles, and dealing with elevation - just proving that 'I can persevere through this,'" Hamilton said. "We put into practice here at Fort Carson what we call the 'Iron Horse Strong Campaign,' and it's named after the Iron Horse Division. We focus on spiritual strength, mental strength and physical strength, and I think that someone who comes out and endures this course, they encounter all three of those pillars."
Spartan officials, however, do not want anyone to fear their events. Mere mortals, too, can become Spartan racers, Schellman said.
"No, it's definitely not too tough," he said. "I see it as a strong push into the fitness marketplace. People will always be into running marathons and half-marathons, but this definitely adds the fitness beyond just the running. In training for this, you have to train your entire body, not just for the run."
Much like a Soldier, no Spartan racer gets left behind. Rather than trying to beat each other through the obstacles, Spartan racers are more inclined to hoist, pull, push, encourage, and even carry each other when necessary. Everyone wants to succeed, but finishing as unscathed as possible is more important than speed.
"It's about taking on a challenge and putting teamwork together," Barness said. "You could apply all of those same total Army values to a Spartan race: trust and commitment, value, honesty and integrity."
As a military veteran, Schellman proudly helped connect Spartan with the Army.
"I love the fact that we're working with the military on this contract," he said. "It's a great thing for our racers to be able to come on base and be running side-by-side with military personnel."
Likewise, Barness boasts about the Army's association with Spartan.
"Hopefully, down the road, it becomes an annual event at a lot of different installations to run a Spartan race," Barness said. "This compares, in my mind, to the Army Ten-Miler. As a sporting event, this is by far the largest that we do. It's a big deal."
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, will host Spartan Races, Sept. 19, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is scheduled for Spartan Races, Oct. 24, all of which are open to military personnel and civilians.
"We're adding another two installations next year, possibly more," Schellman said. "We would like to see between six and eight over the next couple of years. There are only so many markets we can add before it doesn't make sense."
The Boston-based Spartan already has 58 events scheduled for 2015. Meanwhile, the Army MWR Spartan program is up and running.
Officials from Fort Campbell and Fort Riley were in Colorado scouting the Spartan races. Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, also expressed interest in hosting an event.
"They're all here learning, taking pictures, trying to figure it out," Barness said. "We learn something new every year, and we get smarter. And Spartan certainly gets smarter. We're learning together."
Barness remembers the Army's first Spartan race.
"We started four years ago," he said. "Spartan was a fledgling company. They were brand new, as was somebody named Tough Mudder and the Warrior Dash. We did a mud run on Fort Carson, something that had not been done in the Army. The things you see here with all the branded tents and all the merchandising, it was few and far between."
Fort Carson's first three Spartan Races were run at Iron Horse Park, in the heart of the installation.
"We ran it frontwards one year. We ran it backwards the next year, trying to create some diversity," Barness said. "We changed it up as much as we could and we basically came to the saturation point that it's time to do something different.
"It's time to go big or go home, and we came downrange to play with the big boys."
They relocated about seven miles south into Training Area 7, where Army marksmen and helicopter crews train for battle missions.
"Just over the hill, they shoot artillery and they land Blackhawks on a regular basis," Barness said.
Once everyone bought in, the move was applauded by all involved with the event. Fort Carson Director of MWR Mike O'Donnell oversaw the project.
"The amount of land that we have here, the elevation we have here, adds a huge component to the race," O'Donnell said. "We had great coordination with DPTMS [Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security], great support from all the other directorates when it came to dotting I's and crossing T's, but it did take quite a lot of work. … It also allowed us from the installation access perspective to have a lot more control over those 8,000 folks that come in."
Fort Carson Garrison Commander Col. Joel Hamilton was impressed with the outcome.
"It is absolutely a win-win," Hamilton said. "The rationale behind moving it, from the location of Iron Horse Park, was what makes this event unique in Colorado. [It] is being able to really take in the vistas and the mountainous terrain and take advantage of the elevation. So by moving it further south here, up against all the canyons and the arroyos, was absolutely vital to capturing the essence of what Spartan Colorado really is."
Barness said not only hosting the event, but moving it downrange, required timely cooperation by many across the installation. Being passionate about making a difference for Soldiers and their Families, he said, is a prerequisite for fielding a Spartan Race on an installation.
"I can't say enough about teamwork because somebody gets to lead the guys, but everybody is busting their butt and getting dirty," Barness said. "You go home dirty every night for a week, and you go home tired. And you come back and do it again.
"We have a great team and it was a big team effort across the board. Not just the MWR side, but the whole garrison. The environmental guys played a big role. The DES [Department of Environmental Services], the DPTMS [Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security], our range control guys - everybody gets involved, everybody supports.
"All of those agencies are involved. It's multiple in-process reviews. It's coordination. It's communication. And it just takes that. We put one project officer on it, and in this case, Anne Connor is a hero.
"I just wanted to emphasize 'thanks' to all of the players. I get my name put out there because I did the first Spartan race, and that's great, but it's the people like Anne that pretty much run it."
Connor recently ran the race for the second consecutive year.
"In the end, it's always for our Soldiers and Families, so whatever we can do to make them happy by bringing them out and giving them a good event, that's what we're here to do," she said on the eve of the first day of races. "One-hundred percent, Spartan certainly embodies the physical-fitness part of being a Soldier and getting out there and being rough and tough and running with your battle buddies."
Spartan delivers self-contained, turn-key events across America, along with races in Europe, Australia, Korea and Japan. As a four-time participant, Barness is as seasoned a veteran as anyone in the U.S. military at hosting these events.
"When they come to Fort Carson or any of the other installations, it's going to be similar," Barness said. "We've contracted so that they operate and execute a turn-key operation - great - except they're trying to do it on a military installation that is foreign to this kind of behavior.
"Between the gate access, the range control, the environmental, the fire marshals, the safety guys - all of those elements on a day-to-day basis, Spartan doesn't deal with. They don't have to. Our role as an MWR proponent for this is we are the liaison and we are the facilitator. We are the guy that removes the obstacles, literally, for Spartan to do what they normally do.
"We try to remove all of the roadblocks that we put up so that they can come in and do this for that value of having a great time on Fort Carson."
The race spans the entire spectrum of MWR programs.
"We do a kids race, so there's our Child and Youth Services linking into the marketing piece," Barness said. "There's an EFMP, exceptional family member, with a special-needs type race, so there's Army Community Services' link to EFMP. Obviously, the food and beverage side, from the business end, is there. The entire marketing piece, and our supply and services are running tents, setting up trailers, and running through logistics.
"Every one of the recreation programs plays a role, between the outdoor recreation guys renting equipment, our use of a [U.S. Olympic] shooting complex, and the gymnasiums kick in with training programs to help get Soldiers ready for the race."
Which is why the Army sought involvement with Spartan in the first place.
"They're looking to modernize their fitness regimen," Schellman said. "The days of old of just going out and doing cadence runs and a bunch of pushups and sit-ups - they're trying to do more things and come up to speed and get the Soldiers, Airmen and Marines active and do more things like this.
"It's a win-win all the way around. It's the American way trying to get people off the couch, and it's the directive of the commanders that want to get their guys active also."
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