Team Essayons participate in Fenway Spartan Sprint

Courtesy Photo | Team Essayons members climb up one of the obstacles during the event.  

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES

11.13.2021

Story by AnnMarie Harvie 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division

Jon Belmont, New England District’s Chief of Staff, and Team Essayons, (a team of friends that included New England District team members Jessica Rudd, Margela Shirley, Lisa Belisle and Joanne Ly) made a successful run at the 2021 Fenway Spartan Sprint held at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts, Nov. 13.

“The Spartan race is an obstacle course challenge offered in various difficulty levels and distances,” said Team Leader Belmont. “They’re run at venues around the world, usually on challenging off-road terrain but some shorter-distance races are also done in urban areas or stadiums. Obstacles include walls, low crawls, box jumps, rope climbs, monkey bars, and sandbag carries and other such challenges.”
Belmont ran his first race in 2017 shortly after retiring from active duty in the U.S. Army. The 2021 race was his eighth. According to Belmont, there are three types of events – the “Sprint” distance, the “Super” distance and the “Beast” distance. Team Essayons ran the “Sprint” distance which is about 3 miles long with about 20 obstacles.

“The elite racers can do it in under 30 minutes, but we came in at around 73, beating our 2019 time by four minutes!” he said.

Belmont first assembled Team Essayons for the Fenway Sprint in 2019. The team planned to run together again in 2020 but the event was cancelled due to COVID-19. “This is the second year several district members have participated,” he said.

Members of Team Essayons have had some experience with similar events with some of our competing in Spartans, Tough Mudders, trail half marathons, and other obstacle course or off-road races.

• Date Taken: 11.13.2021
• Date Posted: 12.22.2021 12:19
• Story ID: 411775
• Location: BOSTON, MA, US