David Dietrich
Spartan Race Europe
David Dietrich is a sports enthusiast and traveling entrepreneur. David has completed over 20 Spartan Races and currently works for Spartan Race Europe.
Impactful and transformative experiences can have the power to change our lives completely. For David this happened in 2012, when his father passed away. In his grief, he abandoned his job as an investment manager and went searching for what is really meaningful in life.
“My father always told me “Do what you love and follow your heart” – says David. “His death was an eye-opener for me, showing that life can end any time. So why waste it on something that doesn’t make you happy?”
And then I thought: “I am going to quit the job that has never felt right and embark on a trip around the world.”
It was the summer of 2013, and so I started with the biggest summer sport of all – surfing. I flew to Indonesia, got my surfboard and… after only 2 weeks I got really bored. Spending all day waiting to catch a wave apparently wasn’t my thing.
So I headed over to Malaysia to see what else was out there for me. There, I stumbled upon a mountain run. It sounded like fun, so I immediately said yes, without realizing what I had signed up for! Being completely lost in translation, I discovered that 20K was only one part of the race. The final briefing revealed that the actual run was over 50K! I remember asking myself what the hell was I doing on the mountain but when the run was finished it was the greatest feeling of accomplishment ever!
Eventually I became addicted, so my trip around the world turned into a constant search for races.
By far the best discovery was the Spartan Race - a series of obstacle races with varying distance and difficulty, ranging from 3 miles to marathon distances. I did the first one in April of 2014, and it was just awesome. Spartan Races combine everything I love about sports – endurance, obstacles, agility, stamina, courage, climbing, jumping, moving, crawling in mud – it’s challenging, it’s fun and it’s real! In the past 9 months I have completed 15 Spartan Races.
By the time I returned to Austria, I realized that I don’t want to give up sports. I started teaching crossfit and general movement, did a few obstacle races, until one day I ran into the main curator of Spartan Race Europe. I shared some ideas about how Spartan Race can be improved and eventually ended up with a job offer. Now I’m working for Spartan Race Europe helping to establish the brand and expand it to more countries. My goal is to spread the word about Spartan Race and obstacle racing in general, so that more people can experience it.
I first discovered Ambronite on Google. I was searching for a healthy meal replacement and came across the Ambronite website. The reason why I decided to go for Ambronite was the fact that I’m paying attention to what I eat, and during my travels and between various airports, busses and races, my body craves a quick nutritional fix - and Ambronite provides exactly that in a healthy manner! Airport food is always overpriced, and often unhealthy. A quick solution like a small chocolate bar, may satisfy your mind but not your body. That’s why I always have a few Ambronite meals with me. It integrated pretty naturally into my life, as I discovered that I can also use it during multi-day adventures.
Plus, Ambronite makes for an awesome second breakfast. My favorite way to use Ambronite is to mix in 1 banana, some coconut milk and a bit of agave nectar. Tastes amazing!