Spartan obstacle course race expected to draw thousands this weekend, boost SLO County tourism

SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. – Santa Margarita Ranch is slowly being transformed this week from what is typically a vineyard into the host site of an international competition that is expected to draw thousands of visitors to San Luis Obispo County.

The two-day 2023 Spartan Race Trifecta competition this weekend is projected to help provide a big boost to the local tourism industry during what is usually a slow period on the calendar.

"It's such a great opportunity to bring people to the area focused on sports tourism in this amazing outdoor community that we have," said Visit SLO CAL President/CEO Chuck Davison. "One of the most exciting things for us is with this event being held at Santa Margarita Ranch, these individuals who are traveling in from out of town need to stay throughout the county in order to take advantage of this experience."

Spartan is an organization that holds races throughout the world, which include a number of physically challenging obstacles of varying lengths.

"The Spartan race is an obstacle course racing event that takes place both outdoors at these kind of events, and we do in stadiums all over the U.S. and the world," said Spartan race director Ben Kimple. "We've actually been in 40 different countries. We've run hundreds of events a year. We're international. It's an incredible opportunity for people to test themselves mentally and physically."

This weekend's race marks the fourth straight year Spartan has held a multi-day race in San Luis Obispo County.

"The weather is incredible here," said Kimple. "We're situated right between San Francisco and Los Angeles. A lot of people will travel for our races because they're destination spots. This place is really fun. It's a great community here."

According to Spartan organizers, this year's race is projected to attract about 9,000 people over the weekend on Nov. 4-5.

"They're coming from all over the world," said Davison. "We know that more than half of them are traveling from 500 miles or further, which means they're staying in our hotels, and they're dining in our restaurant, and they're shopping in our local venues."

Visit SLO CAL, which serves as San Luis Obispo County's non-profit destination marketing and management organization, is the lead sponsor of the event and views it as excellent way to help promote local tourism to everyone in attendance.

"One of our desires of Visit SLO CAL was to be able to attach our community to big worldwide brands that can help showcase this destination," said Davison. "So our relationship with Spartan, and bringing them here just a couple of years ago to help expand sports tourism in our region, has really helped us tell the story, and connect the dots internationally with this great brand of Spartan, but also now the destination of SLO CAL."

Davison added Visit SLO CAL is determined to grow its portfolio of sporting-related events held throughout the county.

"Sports tourism is definitely been a focus for us at Visit SLO CAL," said Davison. "This amazing outdoor venue that we have of San Luis Obispo County, and being able to attract things like the Spartan race, the World Surf League, which both of those events coming up in December and in January, things like the Ironman in Morro Bay next May. All of those are great avenues to introduce people to this amazing outdoor environment here in San Luis Obispo County, and bring them and give them reasons to come back in the future."

This weekend's Spartan race will attract around 500 spectators, more than 8,500 participants, ranging from kids to adults, and will include several separate events.

"On Saturday, we have our ultra marathon event that's over 31 miles and our half marathon event, which is just over 13 miles," said Kimple. "On Sunday we have our 10K and our 5K events. This property is just absolutely gorgeous, and it lends itself to all those distances and is a really interesting course."

In addition to the races, Spartan and Visit SLO CAL, will also hold a number of activities and giveaways for participants and spectators.

For more information about San Luis Obispo Spartan Trifecta Weekend, click here.