The best endurance athletes in the country descended on Jacksonville, Fla. over the weekend for the first race of the 2020 Spartan U.S. National Series presented by Harley Davidson. Jacksonville’s fast and flat WW Ranch Motocross Park tested athletes as they raced across 5 km of technical terrain and battled 20 obstacles on Spartan’s signature Sprint course, the shortest distance in the five-race series.

More than 100 elite athletes competed for a piece of the event’s $16,000 prize purse. In the end, 2019 Spartan U.S. National Series champions Ryan Atkins and Lindsay Wester took the first-place spots on the podium with times of 28:18 and 32:59, respectively. The podium rounded out with Veejay Jones (28:42) and Ryan Kempson (28:52) placing second and third for the men, while Spartan World Champion Nicole Mericle (34:39) and Natalie Miano (36:02) took the second and third spots for the women.

Related: Meet Ryan Atkins and Lindsay Webster, OCR's Power Couple

In addition to the elite competition, more than 8,000 racers of all ages and skill levels competed in the weekend’s OCR events, which included the 10K, 25-obstacle Spartan Super and the shorter-distance Sprint, along with a Spartan Kids race for children ages 4 to 14.

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Look who’s back on top 🙌 🥇 Lindsay Webster 32:59 (@lindsaydawnwebster) #spartanrace #spartanusns2020 #roadtoabudhabi @harleydavidson

A post shared by Spartan Race (@spartanrace) on Feb 23, 2020 at 10:35am PST

The 2020 Spartan U.S. National Series, which offers a $110,000 prize purse, continues to Snohomish, Wash. on April 4 and Big Fork, Mont. on May 3 for Super races. The series will conclude with two half-marathon, 30-obstacle Spartan Beast races in Huntsville, Utah on July 18 and Glen Jean, West Virginia on Aug. 29, where series champions will be crowned based on cumulative ranking points.

More: Atkins, Webster Talk Preparation in Pre-Race Video Diaries

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Today’s final leaderboards are in! Both the women and men 3rd place spots were HARD fought along with a hungry pack of racers competing to rack up points early in the series. - Who’s on your radar after today in Jacksonville? 👀

A post shared by Spartan Race (@spartanrace) on Feb 23, 2020 at 3:13pm PST

The U.S. National Series leads to the Spartan North American Championship, which takes place on Sept. 27 across a mountainous Beast course at Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows in North Lake Tahoe, Calif. The North American Championship will draw the best racers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. From there, the best athletes in the region will face off against the best in the world for the 2020 Spartan World Championship on Dec. 4 in Abu Dhabi.

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