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North Potomac Resident Preparing for 'One of the Hardest Races in the World'

Bruce Allentuck is one of 200 people competing in this year's Spartan Death Race, which will begin June 25 in Pittsfield, VT.

Every now and then, Bruce Allentuck still finds himself wondering what exactly he’s gotten himself into.

The 45-year-old North Potomac resident will be one of 200 participants competing in this year’s Spartan Death Race, an endurance race in Pittsfield, VT. consisting of mud runs, obstacle racing and trail racing as well as additional, grueling, physical and mental challenges. The race, which starts June 25, could span anywhere from 24 to 72 hours, according to Allentuck. Its website, www.youmaydie.com, estimates that 90 percent of participants will not complete the race.

“It’s one of the hardest races in the world,” said Allentuck, who noted that the events and challenges during the race vary from year to year. “We don’t know what we’ll be doing in it, and won’t know until we’re actually in it. We don’t know what time it starts or what time it ends.”

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According to an article in the Washington Post, participants in the 2009 Death Race were forced to “slither through mud under barbed wire at 4 a.m. to find their race bibs pinned to tree stumps and then had to hack the stumps out of the ground and carry them for most of the race.” They were also forced to endure “countless hours of running, climbing, bushwhacking, log-splitting and lifting. And after a 2,000-foot climb, they found a list of the first 10 U.S. presidents, which they had to recite correctly after running back down the mountain. One mistake and they were sent back up again.”

The race is so demanding that organizers require the 200 carefully selected entrants to sign a three-word waiver that reads simply, "You may die."

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Yet Allentuck, a married father of three girls and owner of Allentuck Landscaping since 1986, is looking forward to the challenge.

Allentuck, who graduated from in 1983 and North Carolina State University in 1987, has completed seven marathons, four ultra-marathons, three Ironman triathlons, a 4.4-mile Chesapeake Bay swim as well as what he estimated to be at least 50 other triathlons of various lengths. Allentuck also played rugby in college and spent “a couple years” playing for a touring team even after college.

He works out seven days a week, sometimes for as much as 9 to 10 hours in a day, and has spent much of the last 3 to 4 months largely focusing on increasing strength and endurance in preparation for the Death Race. On most days, he says he works out, on average, 1 to 2 hours a day.

And while most of his workout regimen is similar to what he does in preparation for a triathlon, he gears his Saturday workouts strictly towards preparing for the Death Race. He has also watched countless videos of the Death Race and talked to people that have participated in the race before, in an attempt to prepare himself, as much as possible, for what lies ahead. Yet, Allentuck said he knows that he, and the rest of the participants, are sure to be in for plenty of surprises come June 25.

“The biggest thing is not knowing at all what we’re going to be doing,” Allentuck said. “That’s both very refreshing and very nerve-wrecking. [The organizers] like to play with your mind, and like to mess with you, and are going to throw all kinds of stuff in our way. So I’m not nervous about being in it, and competing in it. I’m more nervous about how I’ll react when I’m very tired and fatigued. And if we get into that 30, 40, 50 or 60 hour period, I hope I can focus through and make the right decisions, but that’s a lot to push on a person.”

On the race’s website, Joe DeSena, who, along with Andy Weinberg, created the Death Race in 2005, said that “the kind of person that signs up for the race is someone who has no limits and is basically a lunatic.” He added that “the kind of person that finishes is an extraordinary person.”

Yet, Allentuck is determined to be one of those “extraordinary” people to finish and is entering the race with every expectation of doing just that. Only 57 participants have completed the race in its six-year history.

“I want to finish,” Allentuck said. “Finishing is my goal. And if I have the opportunity to help somebody else finish I’ll feel really great about that.”

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