For Sparta

Hannah Graves

“We’re officially Spartans!” Teddy Zimmer (10) yelled to his teammates after finishing the Spartan Race.

On Saturday, March 19, twelve Dalat students and faculty members piled into a van headed for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For the first time in history, a team of Dalat athletes, headed by Mr. Brian Brewster, decided to take on the Spartan Race, a rigorous obstacle course race held in over fourteen countries at various times each year. In preparation for this thirteen kilometer run including over twenty-five obstacles and dozens of mud pits, Brian Brewster and Eddie Jenkins led training sessions twice a week. This team of students and teachers, who trained vigorously for four months, came to call themselves "Spartans" in anticipation of completing the race. 

After staying the night in a nearby hotel, the Spartans woke up early Sunday morning and began their day anxiously loading the van with all of their Spartan equipment. “I’m not nervous,” Charlotte Combrink (12) exclaimed early in the morning on the way to the race, “I’m just excited!” High school principal, Brian Brewster, told the team many times, “Don’t think of it as a Spartan Race; think of it as Spartan challenge.” As the team made their way to the race site and registered for an early heat, they encouraged each other in jittery excitement.

At 8:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, the Dalat team lined up just minutes away from starting the race. “You will help your fellow Spartans; defeat is not an option!” the announcer yelled. Just seconds before the start of the race, he motivated the future Spartans standing before him, screaming, “Who are you?” “I am a Spartan!” the crowd responded with energy. “Three, two, one…” he counted down, “Go!” The Spartans were off.

The combined thirteen kilometers, strenuous obstacles, and brutal Malaysian heat made for no easy course. However, teamwork made this feat much more enjoyable. Most of the group stuck together in twos or threes to enjoy comradery during the race and encourage each other along the way. Keegan Oppenheim, the first of the Dalat team to finish, commented, “The rough terrain made [the race] much more adventurous. Although each obstacle got harder and harder, it made the run very exciting.”

Nearly three hours after starting, the team regathered after the race. “Crossing the finish line was such a relief,” Alan Luchtenburg (11) sighed. After lots of pictures, laughs, and shared “Spartan stories,” the team prepared to head back to Penang. The Dalat Spartan team finished well: all completing the race within the top 300 times to finish out of over 5500 people. Keegan Oppenheim (12) and Alan Luchtenburg (11) finished first and second in their age group, and twenty-second and twenty-sixth overall, while Charlotte Combrink (12) and Hannah Graves (12) finished first and second in their age group as well.

Mr. Brian Brewster ended the long, grueling day reminding the team, "What I love about the Spartan Race is not the race itself but the lessons you learn along the way—lessons about comradery, encouraging others, not quitting, and seeing the benefits of hard work pay off."