WHITEFISH - Imagine this — you have joined a race where you have to sprint five miles, but those five miles have 15 obstacles. And if you're an Ultrarunner you are looking at about 60 miles with around 45 obstacles.
This is a very real race and it's coming right here to Northwest Montana.
"I love it. It was the first Spartan Race that I had ever done. The first time I did it, I had no idea what I was doing," competitor and personal trainer Scarlet Kaplan said. "I think I signed up like maybe a week before, probably more like three days. I just showed up and went and had fun. Spartan Races are way more interactive, you talk to other people you have to figure out how to do the obstacles."
Spartan racer and personal trainer, Scarlett Kaplan, knows her clients have to prepare for the event differently than any other, and time is winding down since the competition is set for May 7 and May 8 in Bigfork.
"I incorporate a lot of like grip strength work because that's something that most people don't do and that's something that is super important, especially because there's so many different kinds of like monkey bars and rings and things like that," Kaplan said.
But this race doesn't just bring a fun event to the valley — it also has a huge economic impact.
"We calculate the economic impact based on the ratios coming in from out of the market. And then also there's the impact to our local businesses, such as we have local food vendors on-site at the restaurant," Discover Kalispell Executive Director Diane Medler said.
