Though they were probably not appreciative at the time, participants dragging a concrete block in a circle at the top of a steep hill during the May 11 Spartan Race near Bigfork had a small crew of dedicated obstacle-course builders to thank.

“When I stick an obstacle on top of a mountain, there are a handful of guys who have to figure out how to make it happen,” race director Todd Sedlak said. “I draw it on paper, and they make it real. I just connect the dots between the obstacles with course tapes and markers.”

Sedlak, who is back home in Vermont, designed the course, but he emphasized his role was only a small part of the final product.

Crew members who lugged concrete blocks and hand-carried pipes and cargo netting up a roadless mountainside were a huge part of the success of Montana’s first Spartan event. The sprint distance of just under five miles featured a number of punishingly steep hills, a few deep mud bogs, a long barbed-wire crawl and a sandbag carry among its many obstacles. 

The course was the second one that Sedlak has designed, quite different from his first race in Indiana. 

He said he took advantage of the 30- to 40-foot elevation gains in Indiana as best he could by forcing racers up them 30 to 40 times, “but I was never able to put them in a spot where they just looked up in despair. This was one of the steepest elevation gains we’ve had for a Spartan sprint.”

Also part of the event’s success were the planners at the sponsoring Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, Rocky Mountain Transportation (which provided bus service for the shuttle from the off-site parking spot) and more than 300 volunteers and 50 Spartan staff members.  

The final numbers for the race included more than 6,700 in attendance on race day, with 3,447 completing the course and 420 people dropping out before the finish. There were about 2,000 spectators cheering on the competitors. 

“This was the most spectators per runner that we’ve ever had at a Spartan race,” Sedlak said. “We actually had people who left, went home and showered and came back, just to hang out.” 

Rob Brisendine, Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau group sales manager, said his office received an overwhelmingly positive response to the event.

“I was there in the festival area trying to gain feedback from some of the elite athletes and other participants, and everyone had a great time,” he said. “It met their expectations of a challenging course, from the elite to someone who’s never done something like this before.”

The decision was made over the weekend to schedule another race for 2014 on the same land owned by Flathead Lake Lodge, though the course will be altered substantially. 

At least 1,200 people already have signed up for next year, and organizers could accommodate up to 10,000 racers if response is enough to extend the event to two days, Brisendine said. They don’t quite expect that, though he said a good guess is 40 percent growth from the inaugural event.

Sedlak said that even though the race is currently listed as being on June 14, this date is not necessarily concrete, though the race still would be in May or early June if that changes. 

He said no matter when it is, the crew will be happy to come back. He said the Spartan staff has never been “as welcome in a community as we were in Montana.” 

“From putting ‘Welcome Spartans’ signs up to the big smiles and honking when we were wearing our Spartan T-shirts, they were excited to have us there. Sometimes people are quite hostile and the locals just see it as a big hassle.”

The Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau took surveys to measure the economic impact of the event, which included more than 60 percent of entrants who traveled more than 100 miles to participate. (The final impact numbers are not yet available.)

“We were thrilled about the out-of-market participation,” Brisendine said. “They came from all over the country, from the East Coast to Germany.” 

The winners represented a cross-section of entrants geographically. Cody Moat, a 35-year-old from Fillmore, Utah, won the men’s elite race in 50:26 while Elliott Megquier, 24, from Fort Drum, N.Y., was the men’s open winner with a time of 55:13. 

Women’s winners were Beverly Watson, 59, of Alberta, in the elite race, with a time of 1:13:19 and Kaci Calaway, a 28-year-old from Bigfork, who won the open category in 1:11:17. 

 Early registration, with a $60 entry fee for the 2014 Montana event, runs until Dec. 14.

Online:

www.spartanrace.com 

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or by email at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.