Spartan Beast Ottawa

Adventure in Lac Ste-Marie

How did you celebrate the Canada Day long weekend? My brothers and I decided to go skiing at Mont Ste-Marie ... without skis. More precisely, we spent our Saturday climbing up and down ski hills as part of the Spartan Beast Ottawa, which was in Lac Ste-Marie, about an hour north of Ottawa.

Pre-Race Excitement

As we finished checking in, we arrived on the patio of the chalet and were greeted by epic music, among them being the song by Vangelis, "1492: Conquest of Paradise", which we thought was super epic because of this clip.

We were just minutes from the start, excited and nervous about this run. While the race was advertised as a 20 km course, the announcer surprised us by informing us the course was at least 25 km.

My brothers look ahead, undaunted by the hill. Little did we know that we would climb all the way to the top ... and back down ... 6 times. And the top wasn't even in sight. Nevertheless, we were energetic and excited.

The First Hill

We finally made our way to the very top. We heard we'd have to do this "only" 3 times from one of the participants. However, this is us, about to head down, and just finding out that we'd have to do this 5 more times. Oh ... and you can't see the bottom of the hill in this photo--that's just partway down.

Before heading down, we had our photo taken by a fellow Spartan.

Fellow Spartans

After our 2nd ... or 3rd hill (we started to lose count), we found ourselves in a seemingly endless trail. We came across a 7-time Spartan finisher. We would end up pushing each other for much of the race.

Last Hill

This last hill definitely came as a surprise to us. When we found out we had to climb this last hill, we were shocked. We thought we finished all the big hills (according to a medic on the course). At least it wouldn't be as bad as the beginning, we were told. Well, here we are, gazing at the breathtaking scenery, with our breaths taken away by the grueling climb. Even though we thought we would be at the top, we soon discovered this was only halfway. Sometimes, looking back on how far you've come helps you press forward to finish what you've started.

Post-Race Dinner

The race took us a little over 8 hours. We were among the last finishers, but we finished! The volunteers were packing up, and the sun was setting. We had little interest in post-race photos and celebrations. We wanted to get back to Ottawa to meet up with the rest of the crew. So here we are, hanging with a friend who lives in Ottawa, eating to our heart's content!