The Spartan U.S. National Series kicks off in San Jose with stops in Seattle, SoCal and Chicago en route to the series finale in Utah, where the series winners will be crowned. 2018 will feature more prize money than ever before for both individual event winners and series champions. National series events will also feature racer qualifications for both the 2018 Spartan North American Championship and World Championship.
Some of the top Spartans expected to compete:
Just 18, Veejay Jones has been brandishing his talents as an elite OCR racer since he was 16. In 2017, he won the SoCal Sprint. Rea Kolbl's street-cred includes experience winning national titles with the Slovenian National Gymnastics team. Now a top Spartan racer, she's also an applied physics grad student at Stanford. Angel Ramirez has 18 first-place finishes in his history as a Spartan Racer and was ranked number one in the 2017 World Elite Series. Haling from Alberta, Canada, 27-year-old Faye Stenning channeled her cross-country running prowess into finishing 4th in the 2017 Spartan Race World Championship. Glenn Racz is a mechanical engineer in Vista, Calif. He's OK not having to travel far for the San Jose series kick-off. "It's great to be able to drive to the venue to bring the family along." A former NCAA Division 1 Cross-Country champ, Nicole Mericle transcended a string of injuries to place third in her first Spartan Race in 2016. Robert Killian flew under the radar and took the OCR scene by surprise when he won the 2015 Spartan Race World Champs. Serving in the Colorado Army National Guard, he is also known for being honored as winner of the 2016 Best Ranger competition. Ryan Kent got his "butt kicked" in his first Spartan Race, the Virginia Super in 2014. He channeled the disappointment into training and went on to the Carolina Best the same year. Alyssa Hawley played Division 1 softball at Stony Brook University and jumped into her first Spartan Race in 2015, winning the female open division. Kevin Donoghue, an age-grouper, will be aiming for 30 podiums in 2017.
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TJ Murphy
The Senior Editor of Spartan Life, T.J. Murphy is a New York Times bestselling author and former editor of Triathlete Magazine. His writing has also appeared in Outside & Runner's World.
