Last year, contestants who made it far enough to reach the 2,000 vertical climb as part of the Spartan Death Race were read a list of presidents’ names to remember.
Those who remembered the list when they got back down were allowed to go on to the next phase, and those who didn’t had to climb the mountain again, and continuing climbing up and down until they either remembered or quit.
Of all who take part in what is considered the hardest obstacle course race in the world, 90 percent quit before the end, making it one of most sought after races in extreme sports.
This year, Dante A. Simone of Bayonne, a 2010 graduate of Rutgers School of Law in Newark, intends to take the challenge.
Keeps him running
Simone said he didn’t intend to go into extreme sports when he began running.
“While in law school, I started running as a way to alleviate stress,” he said. “Three and a half years later, I have competed in numerous marathons, ultra marathons, and triathlons.”
“While in law school, I started running as a way to alleviate stress.” – Dante A. Simone
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“This year,” he said, “I will be competing in a variety of races, including two 100-mile- races, an Ironman distance – 140.6 total miles – triathlon at the Chesapeake Endurance Festival, and the Spartan Death Race in Pittsfield, Vt.”
The Spartan Death Race is an endurance race comprised of mud runs, obstacle racing, trail racing, and physical/mental challenges all in a more than 48 hour adventure race. Only 10 percent of the participants are expected to complete the race.
The 2011 Death Race lasted 45 hours. Everyone had the option to quit or finish.
The annual Spartan Death Race, based in Vermont, touts high endurance obstacles and tasks over a three-day period. Those tasks take the form of physical and mental strain.
This year, the race spans 40 miles.
‘A different animal’
Simone said although he has been in adventure races before in New York, including mountain biking, trekking, and orientation use of maps, the death race is “a different animal.”
He said while planning his race schedule and searching for longer races online, he came across this one.
“I’m doing this because I want to see how far I can push my body,” he said.
To keep in shape for races, Simone runs about 70 miles a week off season, bumping it up when preparing for a race to as much as 100 miles per week, some of it off-track.
Normally, he said, he tries to avoid running in full marathons, partly because of the toll it takes on him and the long period required for him to recover afterwards.
“I started running when I was still at Rutgers,” he said. “Then I would run mostly in Essex County and Branch Brook Park.”
Now, he runs throughout Hudson County, heading sometimes from Stephen Gregg Park in Bayonne through Jersey City – often via Liberty State Park – and then into Hoboken.
At times he takes advantage of the waterfront walkway, but just as often, he goes up Kennedy Boulevard to Journal Square, down into Hoboken, then back though Liberty State Park to Bayonne.
A lawyer working as a law clerk, he said he finds time for all this in odd hours.
“Whenever I can get it in,” he said, “I might do half in the morning and then half at night.”
He said his girlfriend doesn’t give him grief about it.