World’s Leading Endurance Sports and Wellness Brand Kicks Off 2021 Race Season with Obstacle Course and Trail Races Across the Globe

BOSTON, Mass. (March 2, 2021) – Spartan®, the world’s leading endurance sports and wellness brand, officially kicked off its 2021 race season, hosting three events across the globe from February 26-28. The weekend saw two obstacle course race events in Okinawa, Japan and the US, and the first event on the Spartan Trail World Championship - the Transgrancanaria in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain.

Illustrating the excitement for a safe return to endurance racing, the events in the US and Spain sold out ahead of the weekend. Spartan and its local partners are following all local public health guidelines and have developed extensive protocols to provide a safe racing environment, including limiting capacity at events.

All events were held with strict COVID-19 operating protocols, including reduced capacity and social distancing.  

Elite athletes in the US descended on Jacksonville, Fla. for the first race of the “2021 Spartan U.S. National Series presented by USANA.” Here, a fast and flat course at WW Ranch Motocross Park tested athletes as they raced across 5-km of technical terrain and battled 20 obstacles on Spartan’s signature Spartan Sprint® race course - with more than $15,000 USD in prize money on the line.  

In the end, Veejay Jones (25:40) and reigning Spartan World Champion Nicole Mericle (27:46) took the first-place spot on the podiums. The men’s podium was rounded out by Ryan Woods (26:51) and Logan Broadbent (27:09) placing second and third, respectively, while Myriam Guillot-Boisset (30:32) and Rose Wetzel (31:21) took the second and third spots, respectively, for the women.

In addition to the elite competition, Open Heat and Age Group racers competed in the weekend’s obstacle course race (OCR) events, which included the 10k, 25-obstacle “Spartan Super®” and the shorter-distance Sprint – along with the brand’s first Friday evening Spartan Trail event.

Overseas, the Spartan OCR season began with Spartan Super and Sprint races in Chura Sun Beach in Okinawa. The event also featured the season’s first Spartan Kids® events. The Elite Super event saw Maeda Takayuki  (52:03), Tsuruda Yusuke (52:14) and Sakaino Mitsuaki (52:57) on the men’s podium and Michiko Sato (1:05:23), Honoka Jinzai (1:06:06) and Bitou Tomomi (1:06:07) on the women’s podium.

Transgrancanaria, the first of 10 stops on the Spartan Trail World Championship®, took place in Gran Canaria, Spain. The “Crown” label race featured a 42K Marathon “Trail Run Championship” and 129K “Trail Ultra Championship,” offering a $25,000 USD prize purse. The men’s 129K saw Aurelien Dunand-Pallaz (France) [13:42:42], Pere Aurell Bove (Spain) [14:03:35] and Fotios Zislmopoulos (Greece) [14:19:05] on the podium, while Azara García de los Salmones (Spain) [16:35:11], Claudia Tremps (Spain) [16:57:21], and Ines Marques (Portugal) [17:23:48] took the female podium. 

In the Marathon, Andreu Simon (Spain) [2:41:27], Ben Kimtai Cematot (Kenya) [2:43:24] and Marten Bostrom (Finland) [2:44:09] placed on the men’s podium while Virginia Perez Mesonero (Spain) [3:14:39], Monica Cheruto (Kenya) [3:15:40] and Sarah Jerop (Kenya) [3:15:50] took the top spots for the women.

The weekend also featured Open-Heat 250K, 129K, 65K, 42K, 30K and 17K race distances.