“A little Ski resort? In Ohio? How gnarly can it be?!?!” Well, let me tell you, those Race Directors were hitting the sauce hard when they came up with this Sadistic Masterpiece of a course.

They took this unassuming little mountain and turned it into a Torture Chamber on Steroids.

Up and down that sucker. Dozens of times. Like a deranged yo-yo on crack.  

But wait. There’s more than just relentless ups & downs. Rocky Cianfrocca. 1st Place Winner of the day, (the only one to truly beat that Mountain) told us:

“The toughest obstacle lineup. Hands down. Was here at Cincinnati.

Running down a hill after A-frame, into Herc-Hoist, Monkey Bars, then the Incline Barbed Wire Crawl. Straight into the Spartan mask Sandbag Carry. Followed by a downhill into Multi-Rig.

And back up the hill…. about the toughest combo I’ve seen so far.”

Yikes… That gauntlet sounds so brutal it should be classified as a war crime. It’s like a twisted game of “How much can we make these poor souls suffer before they tap out?”

Ryan Hart, 1st place Age Group on the day doubles down about these carries and obstacle gauntlet:

“what Cincinnati has over Jersey is the carries. All 3 carries… were longer than NJ. And the infamous sandbag carry on the ski hill is almost stupid hard. It’s steep and there’s little to no traction and you’re completely drenched with water from the extremely tough Barbed Wire Crawl immediately before it.”

Shall we go on?!?! What about the terrain? Cory Edwards is an OG in the Spartan Racing scene. Going through the Jersey Ultra and now Cincy this past weekend he gave us his thoughts on Terrain, Obstacles and NJ comparisons:

“parts of Ohio were harder than NJ. Lots of Bushwacking, especially on that ultra loop. Not as much climbing as NJ, but way more difficult running… Ohio was a different kind of challenge. That Ohio sandbag… extremely difficult, with no footing… and a barbwire crawl uphill with snow machines blasting water.
The obstacles in Ohio were way more difficult… and that sandbag on the ultra loop was extremely long and down a huge ravine.”

But guess what? People loved every second of it.

Paul Massey, rolling into that 2nd place Age Group for the day says:

“Gorgeous venue and lots of real trail running… hands down, the best course I’ve been to so far.”

Masochists, you Spartan Racers are, and I respect the hell out of that.

Now, for years, KILLINGTON, VT has been the undisputed champion of Spartan Ultra brutality, with MOUNTAIN CREEK, NJ holding down the number two spot.

But after this Cincinasty bloodbath, it’s looking like Jersey is getting a bit nervous.  

This Ohio venue is coming in HOT.

The Average Finish Times, Terrain and Obstacles at this Ohio venue were off the charts, putting it damn close to just as difficult as Jersey.

Check these Stats:

Average Finish Times: Time result is based off competitive and open wave participants who finished and found through stratified sampling methods.
DNF%: Found through Spartan Results page. (Now showing DNF participation starting in 2024).
Average Finish Times Top 10: Found through averaging top 10 athlete times in both events.
Fastest Time: Spartan Race Results
Elevation Gain: Found through Spartan Race Map and a sampling of 5+ Athlete Strava profiles.
Max & Avg Steepness: Found through Spartan Race Map.

Can you imagine? A ski resort in freaking Ohio, giving the big mountain boys a run for their money?

This little mountain just seems to hit a little different…

As Rocky again tells us:

“At Mountain Creek, NJ. The climbs and descents were long. At Perfect North/Cincy, they were much shorter but as soon as you crested one it was right back down the hill. In my opinion, the Jersey climbs/descents were tougher, but the immediate ups/downs at Cincy wreaked havoc on the quads, hammies and calves…”

It’s like a bunch of scrappy underdogs said, “Hold my beer, we’re about to show you what real pain looks like.” And show us they did, my friends. Show us they did.

But here’s the thing, as much as this course was designed to break you, there was an unparalleled sense of accomplishment at the finish line. Were you there? Did you feel it?

That feeling of “I just conquered the unconquerable” was written all over the faces of those battered and bruised warriors.  They had stared down the abyss, and the abyss blinked first.

So, to all you masochistic maniacs out there, if you’re looking for a new benchmark of badassery, a new level of suffering (we know you love it). You might want to start training for next year’s Cincinnati Spartan Ultra. Just be prepared to leave a piece of your soul on that little mountain.

Hey Jersey. You better be bringing your A-game next year.

And Cincinnati. Well. You just went and put Ohio (aka Indiana) on the map for something other than buckeye necklaces and bad chili.

Bravo, you sadistic sons of guns. Bravo.

What do you think? Were you out there? Leave us a comment HERE or on our INSTAGRAM page.