Meet the First-Ever Spartan Hall of Fame Class
Back in 2010, when Spartan held its first race at the Catamount Outdoor Center in Williston, Vermont, it was nothing more than a mud run for weekend warriors. But in the decade-plus that followed, Spartan grew rapidly, matured, and evolved. It attracted some of the most gifted, diversified athletes and competitors in the world. Spartan also established a global footprint, expanding into 45 countries. As a result, the level of competition intensified across the world, with 15 global series, four annual regional championships, and three annual global championships, including the upcoming Spartan World Championship in Abu Dhabi. Over the past 12 years, Spartan has held 21 regional championships in six continents and 11 Spartan World Championships in four locations.
As Spartan racing continued to gain steam, it was featured on NBC, ESPN, and a host of other major networks, bringing it into the mainstream and widening its mass appeal. And now, as the Spartan brand and the sport of obstacle course racing continue to gain prominence, inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics is looking more and more like a reality with every passing month.
One of the main reasons for Spartan's explosive growth has been the remarkable talent of the Elite athletes. There have been hundreds of exceptional, world-class athletes on our courses over the past 12 years. And now, with Spartan no longer a young company and OCR no longer a young sport, it's time to honor some of the athletes who achieved incredible heights and helped put us on the map.
In 2022, we will be introducing the very first Spartan Hall of Fame class.
The Very First Spartan Hall of Fame Class: The Inductees
There will be three inductees in the inaugural Spartan Hall of Fame class: Hobie Call, Cody Moat, and Claude Godbout.
Call, the father of current Spartan superstar Hawk Call, won three Spartan World Championships (2011, 2013, and 2016). During his career, he won a ridiculous 78 percent of the races he ran, the highest percentage in Spartan history, and his 43 career victories are the third most all-time. He is tied for the longest undefeated streak in Spartan history, winning 16 consecutive races over the course of 13 months. Call reached the podium in 50 of his 55 career races, and his average career finish place was 1.8, which is third all-time among athletes with more than 10 career races.
Moat is a two-time Spartan World Champion (2012 and 2017). Over a dominant four-year stretch (2012-15), in which he raced 24 times, he missed the podium only once. He raced seven World Championships during his career and never finished lower than fifth overall in any of them. In his 44-race Spartan career, his average finishing place was 2.4.
Godbout, a former member of Canada's national biathlon team, won two Spartan World Championships (2012 and 2014) and placed third in 2013. She also won the first-ever Ultra Beast in 2012. During an incredible stretch of success between June of 2012 and May of 2015, Godbout won 15 of the 16 races she ran. She only missed the podium once in her Spartan career, when she finished eighth at the 2015 World Championship.
Moat, Godbout, and Call will be inducted into the Spartan Hall of Fame at the 2022 Spartan Trifecta World Championship (Nov. 4-6) in Sparta, Greece. During the induction ceremony, they will receive an honorary blazer with a ceremonial Spartan Hall of Fame patch. Additionally, all enshrined athletes (now and in the future) will have their names engraved on a rock, while will be displayed on the Hall of Fame Wall in Sparta.
How Did We Choose the Spartan Hall of Fame Inductees?
Unlike Hall of Fames in other sports, the Spartan Hall of Fame isn't based on a vote. There is no opinion or bias involved. It's entirely numbers-based. Devised by Spartan and OCR stats guru Jack Bauer and DEKA co-creator Yancy Culp, in collaboration with dozens of longtime Spartan employees, the Hall of Fame formula takes into account the following factors: race type, finishing place, and percent of winner. Thousands of races over the past 12 years were analyzed using this formula.
Race type pertains to the importance of the race. Each race has been weighted differently, with the following tiers listed from highest to lowest significance.
- World Championship
- Regional Championship, Ultra World Championship
- Trifecta World Championship, National/Regional Series
- Local
Finishing place is exactly as it sounds: where you finish in the race. Percent of winner is determined by how close you come to defeating the winner. For example, if you finish 5 seconds behind the winner rather than 5 minutes behind the winner — even though you finish in second place in both instances — that's weighted differently. In simple terms, percent of winner is the winner's time divided by your time.
It's important to note that racers are only eligible for the Spartan Hall of Fame after they've been inactive for two years. An additional number of athletes have already met the qualification standards for induction, and will be elected to the Hall of Fame after they've been inactive for two years.
Athletes only earn Hall of Fame points if they place in the top 10 and have a finishing time of at least 75 percent of the winner. As mentioned above, the more prestigious the race, the more Hall of Fame points they'll earn. In the future, athletes will be able to track their number of Hall of Fame points earned via a leaderboard. In the coming days, we'll publish a comprehensive article outlining the Hall of Fame formula in great detail.
Inductees will be enshrined annually at the Trifecta World Championship in Greece.
