Plains residents orchestrate own ‘Spartan Race’ runs as scheduled
From left, are Plains Spartan Race competitors Will Tatum, Greg Tatum and their dad, Mike Tatum. Mike was prepared to compete in the Montana Spartan Challenge in Bigfork before COVID-19 put a halt to it. So he built a course near home and the tradition continued. (Photo by Shawna Tatum)
Will Tatum, of Plains, carries a 2x4 through a culvert during the local version of the 2020 Spartan Race. Wlll’s dad, Mike, had the idea after the Spartan Event in Bigfork was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Mike Tatum)
The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced the cancellation of countless events in Montana and across the world, but Plains resident Mike Tatum didn’t let it stop him from putting on an abbreviated version of the famed Spartan Race.
The Spartan Race in Montana began in 2013 in Bigfork and would have been held for the eighth time the weekend of May 2-3 in the lakeside community in Flathead County. But due to social distancing requirements, race organizers pulled the plug.
It was a scene that occurred numerous times across the state.
But Tatum, who had been training for the event with fellow Plains teacher Ken Nelson and their sons, decided to organize a less formal Spartan Race.
“It was Ken and his son and me and my boys, so doing it with people I know and live with, we knew everyone’s travel, or lack of, since it began, we figured ‘Why waste what we’ve been working for,’” Tatum said.
Tatum designed the course just outside of Plains that had some dirt roads, steep hillsides and a stream, providing what was needed for the course.
“We got some big, old tires for flipping, created some obstacles, made a concrete drag on a chain and used rounds of wood to carry on the course,” Tatum said. “We also had to carry 2x4s, which was just kind of unwieldy and we had to navigate a culvert with water running through it. We also did a bear craw up one of the steep hills.”
Two courses were designed, one five kilometers long and another, longer one which was 10k. The elevation gain for the competitors was about 1,200 feet.
Tatum’s sons, 14-year-old Will, and 11-year-old Greg, helped build the course.
“It’s kind of addicting,” Tatum said. “To finish it is a pretty good accomplishment.
At the end of the course was a fire ring the competitors had to jump over, but that wasn’t the only thing it was used for.
“After we were all down, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and enjoyed each other’s company,” Tatum said.
Nelson and Tatum, unbeknownst to the other, even had medals and T-shirts for the occasion.
Tatum said he found some online to hand out, but Nelson cast his own from scraps of aluminum. They were inscribed ‘2020 COVID Spartan.’
“We really just wanted to maintain some kind of normalcy in our lives and it really turned out to be a good day,” Tatum said.
Tatum echoed what many Montanans have said while enduring the pandemic.
“We’re just so forunate to be in Montana where it’s so easy to maintain social distancing and still enjoy the outdoors,” Tatum said.
The group talked about organizing another Spartan event for 2021 and possibly making it bigger.
“It sounds like a good idea,” Tatum said. “But there’s a lot of work that goes into putting one on the way they do in Bigfork.”
