Spartan, the world’s largest obstacle course race (OCR) and endurance brand is entering the Northern market for the first time in a push to bring a completely new sporting spectacle to the region in the form of OCR. The 2020 race weekend is set to be held at one of Spartan’s most prestigious and iconic venues, Castle Howard, featuring two race options: the 5k, 20-obstacle “Sprint” and the more challenging 10k, 25-obstacle Super. There is also a Spartan children’s race for ages four to 14.
Spartan is on a global mission promoting the benefits of leading a healthy and active lifestyle and has partnered with Welcome to Yorkshire in a bid to inspire citizens of the UK to achieve their fitness goals. This comes after a report by Kantar Public, which alarmingly found that 37% of the UK population never exercise or play a sport and just 13% say they do so ‘regularly’.
For Spartan and Welcome to Yorkshire, inspiring the next generation to stay fit and healthy is key and together to show their commitment, the organisations will give away 100 kids entries to schools across the county. All of Yorkshire’s schools (primary and secondary) are eligible to enter and can do so by sharing their stories as to how they’ll use the free race entries to encourage their children to stay healthy and active. All entrants should email cs@uk.spartan.com to enter for a chance to win!
“Our community has been crying out for an event in Yorkshire for a while now, so it fills me with great pleasure to announce that we are heading to God’s Own County in 2020,” said Spartan UK and Ireland Managing Director, Matthew Brooke.” “What better place to kick off our Spartan Yorkshire adventure than at the incredibly stunning and highly iconic Castle Howard! By working closely with Welcome to Yorkshire, we hope to drive awareness across the region to the benefits of leading an active and healthy lifestyle while delivering a real, tangible economic impact as we showcase everything the county has to offer to our racers.”
Welcome to Yorkshire Commercial Director, Peter Dodd: “We’re delighted to be supporting Spartan on this ground-breaking event as they share the same values as us when it comes to encouraging people leading healthier, happier lives. We’re sure they’ll be plenty of people across the county who will rise to the challenge, and of course, we look forward to welcoming people from further afield as well as they tackle these courses in the spectacular grounds of Castle Howard – one of our county’s finest and most iconic attractions.”
Chief Executive of Castle Howard, John Hoy said: “It is great to have entered into an agreement with Spartan UK and Ireland, putting one of their fantastic events on the map in Yorkshire. We know that there is a rise in participatory sports activities across the country, giving our visitors a challenge and something to aim for this year whilst in the beautiful setting of Castle Howard”
2019 saw more than 40,000 racers take on Spartan races in the UK and Ireland, with an average of 7,000 per event. This year there will be even more racers taking part in eight race weekends up and down the country, with other scheduled events to take place in Wales, Ireland, Midlands, Scotland, Windsor and Twickenham.
Spartan was founded by world-class adventure racer Joe De Sena in 2008 and has grown into the world’s largest obstacle race and endurance brand, with more than 250 events in more than 40 countries worldwide.
