Farrugia enjoys success in Spartan Race in Misano

Ryan Farrugia enjoyed a very successful OCR racing weekend in Italy after clinching two historic victories in the Spartan Race in Misano last weekend.

Farrugia, popularly known as Ryan Mex, has waived the Malta flag proud on a number of occasions in Obstacle Racing over the last four years. In fact, he is the first Maltese to ever qualify and participate in Spartan World Championship and also won the Gozo Ultra 50K in 2020, the Spartan Orte 14K, as well as locally winning the Grid 6 times in a row.

On Saturday, Ryan Mex took part in the 12km Super Distance race which consisted of a 12km route that included 25 obstacles.

Among the obstacles during the race, athletes had to carry various heavy objects, run through the river, climb ropes, hang on monkey bars, climb two -metre walls, crawl under barbed wire, and perform a number of unique obstacles which involve technique, precision and strength.

The race formed part of the Italian national series and included in it the best Italian Obstacle Course Racing athletes who were gunning for points in the national championship.

Farrugia completed the distance in a time of 59 minutes and 43 seconds to top his 30-34 age category ahead of Moreno Tesei (1:02.33) and Dario Piazza(1:03.01).

On Sunday, Farrugia was in action on the Beast Distance which consisted of a 21km race that included 30 obstacles.

The race is described to be the longest and toughest race of the Spartan portfolio as athletes need to have a mix of strength and endurance to manage all obstacles as well as run fast over the whole duration of the course.

Ryan Mex produced a strong showing as he managed to place first in his 30-34 years age group and among all age groups.

In fact, he completed the distance in a time of one hour 57 minutes and 16 seconds.

In the overall age groups classification, he finished ahead of Giovanni Di Gaetano (1:59.30) and Marco Sartori (2:04.34).

On the other hand, he topped the 30-34 age group ahead of Moreno Tesei, who clocked a time of two hours six minutes and four seconds and Andrea Rusconi (2:18.44).

Ryan Mex is now set for another major competition on the international scene next weekend as the six-time Maltese Grid winner will be taking part in the Spartan European Championships that will be going to be held in Verbier, Switzerland.