This year’s Las Vegas Spartan was my fifth Spartan Race overall and my third in Vegas. I’ve always loved this event, but moving it to early October was a huge mistake imo. The biggest issue? The heat.
Temperatures were pushing 98-100*+, which made the entire experience unnecessarily miserable and at times, genuinely unsafe.
- No shade for spectators.
After charging each spectator $25 just to attend, providing some shaded viewing areas seems like the bare minimum.
- Racers were passing out from the heat.
That’s a pretty clear sign that the conditions were too extreme.
- Obstacles were dangerously hot.
Volunteers at certain obstacles mentioned people getting burned, and I personally experienced just how scorching hot some of the metal bars or black wooden blocks were.
- Obstacles were modified or removed.
Certain obstacles had to be adjusted or dropped because of the conditions, which seems like another good indication that this wasn’t the right time of year to host the event.
And then they announced that next year’s race would be held around the same time. Insane. Anyone familiar with the Vegas area knows that early October can still feel like the middle of summer. We don’t typically start seeing consistently cooler weather until November. Moving the race back even a month would make a massive difference. Tbh, genuinely curious why they moved it from early March in the first place. March always seemed like a much more reasonable time to host an outdoor endurance event in the desert.
My younger brothers and I have made the Vegas Spartan a tradition over the years, and it’s something we always look forward to doing together. But if they keep it in early October, next year might be the first time in years that we skip it. And that honestly sucks.
I want to be clear that the race itself, the volunteers, and the people involved were great. This isn’t a complaint about the event or the difficulty of Spartan. It’s about scheduling a physically demanding race in extreme desert heat when there are much safer and more enjoyable times of year to do it.
I really hope the organizers reconsider before next year’s event.
Great race. Great people. Horrible time of year.
Curious if anyone else who raced Vegas this year felt the same way.