Noah Retherford and Coach Richardson traveled to the Seattle area August 13th-14th to compete at the Seattle Spartan in both the Beast 21k (13.1mi) and Super 10k (6.2mi).

The course was at slightly higher elevation than the Hawks are used to at their training grounds, but was similar in having a challenging terrain. The Beast race on Saturday morning was half marathon distance, and included 33 obstacles. Both competed in the Age Group races and started the race bright and early at 7:45am. Noah was off to a solid start and battled his way to a 2nd place Age Group (18-24) finish. Amongst racers of all age groups, Noah was 5th, and if he was in the Elite wave, he would've placed 8th! Coach Richardson, competing in her first Beast race, placed 8th amongst her Age Group races (25-29).

On Sunday morning, the Super race also started at 7:45am with both competing in the Age Group races again. Noah managed to get towards the front right away and again battled to another 2nd place finish in his Age Group (18-24). Overall Age Group racers, Noah was 5th, an improvement from the previous race, and would've also placed 8th in the Elite wave. Coach Richardson competing in her first Super, also improved her placement, just narrowly missing the podium spot by finishing 4th and less than 40 seconds behind the 3rd place finisher. Amongst the overall women in the Age Group racers, she finished 14th.

The Hawks will compete in an open 5k time trial on the UCC Cross Country course on Friday, August 26th, then they'll follow up on the UCC Obstacle Course on September 3rd, at the RiverHawk Challenge 5k with 25+ obstacles. Go Hawks!