Muddy good fun for kids

Madelyn, Charlotte, Malachi and Gideon all had a blast in the Spartan Kids event. Pics: STEWART CHAMBERS 233715_02

By Gabriella Payne

Hundreds of kids pulled on their running shoes and had a whole lot of muddy fun last week as they raced one another through a set of challenging obstacles in the Drouin ‘Spartan Kids’ event.

Running across Thursday 8 and Friday 9 April, the two day event saw over 1000 kids from across the region come together to test themselves as they either competed or just had a bit of fun getting hands on in the great outdoors.

Drouin’s Civic Park was transformed into a giant ‘Spartan Arena’ for the challenge, with a 1.6km track marked out, dotted with a set of fun obstacles along the way – including the all important mud pit of course!

Nikki Sorrell from Spartan Australia said that it was only the second time that Drouin had hosted a Spartan Kids challenge and it had been a huge success, with all tickets completely sold out over both days.

“We just want people off the couch, getting moving and having fun,” Ms Sorrell said.

“This is the only race that we do in Australia that is kids only, and while the competitive waves are different, our mandate is that we just want kids outside, getting off their iPads and having fun.”

And it certainly looked like they were having fun!

Though the mud pit proved a struggle for some, getting out, burning some energy and having a good time with their friends clearly brought a smile to not only the kids, but also the parents faces.

A Warragul Mum, Sarah, said that she had heard about the event through a friend and the kids had absolutely loved it.

“It’s been really good fun – muddy, but fun!” she said, with her daughter Luna giving a big thumbs up in response.

Kids aged 4 – 14 years of age were all able to do the Spartan course, while only children aged 10 and older were allowed to compete in the competitive waves.

Ms Sorrell explained that there were “different cut off points” in the 1.6km long course, so that if younger children couldn’t do some things, they could skip them.

“So they can do an 800m loop, then there’s an intermediate level which is about 1.6km/1.8km – and then they can do the two laps, which is the full 3.2km,” she said.

“You get some kids through that are keen as, and they’ll even do it twice.”

While the Spartan Kids event was set to run last year, it was sadly cancelled due to Covid, but Ms Sorrell hopes that it’ll be back even bigger and better next year.

“The response that we have had has been so positive and the community have really got behind it – so it’s been great,” she said.

“It’s been a big success and we couldn’t be happier.”