Clarksville’s Billings qualifies for Spartan World Championships

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Clarksville’s Ken Billings has qualified to run in the 2020 Trifecta World Championships later in the year in Sparta, Greece.

For Billings, reaching this once in a lifetime opportunity didn’t come easy, but instead was met with extreme perseverance, commitment and dedication to his recently found craft.

“My first Spartan race was in 2015,” Billings said. “Basically, I was over at a friend’s house for a New Year’s Eve party. We had talked a little bit about Spartan Racing before and she said, ‘well give me your credit card and let’s sign up’. I said okay and that was my first one.

In 2017, I had a buddy ask me to do another one. When I hung up the phone, I was thinking what am I doing? At that point, I was still over 300 pounds. My friend ended up tearing his meniscus about a week or two before the race and had to back out. We had about eight other people from work who were signed up so I was like let’s do it. On the first obstacle we came to, I rolled my ankle really bad. Turned out I ended up ripping all of the ligaments on the outside of my ankle.”

Once suffering the injury, Billings took a trip to his doctor’s office. It was on this visit that he received the news that would ultimately change his life in more ways than one.

“After sending me to an orthopedic, he told me we needed to talk about my health,” Billings said. “He said, ‘with your family history, diabetes and high-blood pressure you’ll be lucky to make it another four and a half years before your family plants you.”

At 43 years of age, this was the wakeup call Billings needed in order to discover one of his true passions.

“In 2018, which was my first real season of running Spartan, my goal was to do two different events per month,” Billings said. “By the end of the year, I ended up with 36 or 37 total races. It was crazy.”

Although Billings enjoys the competition of racing, it’s seeing others overcome literal and figurative obstacles along the way that makes the sport worthwhile.

“It’s come full circle,” Billing said. “I was once that person at the top of an eight-foot high wall having to be helped over and now, I’m the one standing there for 10 minutes helping people over. It’s all about encouraging one another to get over their fears and get back into shape.”

Once just a hobby for Billings, racing has now become a lifestyle and a part of his every day routine. He even has his own training structure complete with monkey bars, gym rings, an eight-foot wall, spear throw, atlas ball and a tire flip.

“I train at least once a day,” Billings said. “My first event of the year is coming up in Phoenix. Usually when I get up for work, I’ll run and at lunch I’ll go down to the gym at work and do another workout.”

Billings is also a current member of the Clarksville chapter of Team RWB who uses similar athletic events to build awareness, fundraise and inspire others to join their team.

“It’s Team Red, White and Blue,” Billings said. “It’s an organization whose mission statement is to enhance the lives of veterans. It’s mainly military, but anybody can join. We’re one of the most active groups in the U.S. We average over 60 events a month whether it be from running, swimming, hiking, rucking to softball and volleyball leagues. It’s a way to keep active and to try and stay healthy.”

As the new season approaches, Billings is gearing up to tackle his most grueling year in racing to this point.

“The world championships are the 6th, 7th and 8th of November,” Billings said. “It’ll be my 13th trifecta. I’ll be at two locations mostly every month. After Phoenix, I’ll head to Jacksonville then San Antonio in March. As it is right now, I have to find a couple more races, but I’m shooting for 43 races on the 2020 Spartan calendar which is from March to March.”

For someone on the fence about getting into Spartan Racing, Billings suggests taking the leap of faith will certainly pay off in the long run.

“It’s an entire community,” Billings said. “It’s really a family-based event. I’ve met people from all over the world and everybody is about finishing. Age groups and elites have to abide by certain rules in their classifications while open class is for everyone. You’re never out there alone. If you’re trying to get healthy or want to get healthy again it’s good motivation to do it.”