What caused Hannah's Garmin watch to send a false cardiac arrest alert during the Spartan Race at Werribee?

Garmin's fall and heart rate detection misread the sudden physiological spikes typical of obstacle course racing, climbing, carrying, crawling, as signs of cardiac arrest, and fired an automatic emergency alert to Hannah's listed contact. Her emergency contact was her husband, Jeremy, who was partway up a rope obstacle elsewhere on the course and unable to respond. The alert triggered twice, once in the 5km Sprint and once in the 10km Super, with Hannah fully conscious and running both times.

Why do fitness watches like Garmin sometimes send false SOS or cardiac event alerts during endurance races?

Wearable safety features are calibrated for everyday movement patterns, so sudden decelerations, irregular heart rate spikes, and non-linear motion (crawling under barriers, hanging from rigs, sprinting between obstacles) can be misclassified as a fall or medical emergency. Obstacle course racing produces exactly this kind of erratic data, which is why false alerts are a known, if underdiscussed, feature of events like Spartan Race. The alert still reaches the emergency contact even when the wearer is unharmed, which is what happened twice to Hannah at Werribee.

What is the Spartan Race Werribee 'double header' that Hannah and Jeremy completed?

The double header is back-to-back completion of the 5km Sprint and 10km Super Spartan Race formats in a single day, totalling roughly 45 obstacles across both distances. Hannah finished third in the elite national series 5km Sprint and first in her Age Group category in the 10km Super, her first ever elite category podium. She raced elite in only one of the two events, a decision she now says she would revisit.

What does the Third Hemisphere founders' Spartan Race weekend reveal about the agency's approach to client work?

The weekend reflects the temperament Third Hemisphere brings to client programmes: choosing the harder option twice in one day, working through an obstacle that had previously beaten Hannah, and committing to a longer event before the adrenaline had worn off. Third Hemisphere is run by people who treat difficulty as a starting point rather than a stopping point, and partners consistently report seeing that same persistence in how campaigns are built and problems are solved. It is not a metaphor for B2B sales, as Hannah herself notes, but it is evidence of how the team operates under pressure.

How do you choose a strategic communications partner in Australia and Singapore?

Look for an agency that demonstrates the same persistence in its own operations that it promises to bring to your brand, evidenced by how the team handles setbacks, not just how it pitches wins. Third Hemisphere in Australia and Singapore is built around the Waterfall Strategy, anchoring every channel to consistent key messages and high-impact assets so each element amplifies the next, rather than running disconnected tactics. Prospects should ask any prospective partner for specifics, named publications, named campaigns, measurable outcomes, rather than generic claims of capability.

What is the typical investment range for engaging a strategic communications partner like Third Hemisphere?

Third Hemisphere structures engagements as fixed-term programmes rather than open-ended arrangements, with the total fee agreed upfront for the term and paid in monthly instalments. Indicative programmes for a 6-month term typically range from $60,000 to $120,000, payable in monthly instalments of $10,000 to $20,000, scoped to the partner's objectives and market. Exact figures depend on the mix of earned media, content, and investor or stakeholder communications required.

What is the typical engagement length for a strategic communications programme with Third Hemisphere?

Third Hemisphere typically engages with partners on terms of 6 to 12 months, long enough to build sustained media relationships and narrative consistency rather than one-off coverage. Programmes run on a fortnightly WIP cadence for working alignment, with monthly reporting and a quarterly review to assess progress against the agreed objectives. This cadence mirrors the persistence the team brings to its own pursuits, whether that is a client campaign or a Saturday spent doing two Spartan Races back to back.

Two Spartan races, 45 obstacles, one worried watch

Two Spartan Races, 45 Obstacles, and One Watch Convinced its Owner Had Died

There is a moment in every endurance event where the body sends a clear message to the brain. For Hannah at Werribee this past weekend, that message arrived by push notification, and it was addressed to her husband.

Hannah and Jeremy backed up two Spartan races in a single day for the first time ever, on the theory that 20 obstacles is fine, but 45 is better. The pair ran the 5km "Sprint" and the 10km "Super", which is roughly a full working day of running, climbing, carrying, and voluntarily crawling under things.

The watch that cried wolf

At one point in each race, Hannah's Garmin decided she was in cardiac arrest and fired off an emergency alert to her emergency contact. Her emergency contact is Jeremy. Jeremy was elsewhere on the course, most of the way up a rope.

So the alert did what alerts do: it landed, it was seen, and it was completely impossible to act on. Two races, two death notices, two very much alive people. Nothing was flatlining except the watch's faith in its owner.

The results the watch failed to predict

Hannah finished the day with her first ever podium in the elite category: third in the elite national series 5km Sprint, followed by first in the Age Group category in the 10km Super. She entered elite in one of the two races rather than both, which she now describes as a decision to revisit.

Five things that happened between the start line and the finish line

The spear throw remains undefeated. Hannah missed by 10cm in the first race and 5cm in the second, her closest attempts to date, and collected 30 burpees each time regardless. Spartan does not award marks for proximity.

Olympus fell. Her long-running nemesis obstacle took about 10 minutes to cross, over a distance of less than 10 metres, while roughly 15 people passed her. She got across it anyway, which is the only statistic that appears in the results.

She made a friend in the penalty loop. Hannah and her nearest rival spent the final loop of the 10km admiring each other's running and obstacle technique, right up to the moment they worked out that Hannah still had burpees owing and her new friend did not. They parted on excellent terms: "enjoy your burpees", "enjoy the finish line".

Race nutrition was observed. Sugar buns for breakfast, which we are choosing to read as a carefully periodised carbohydrate strategy.

A future problem was created. In a haze of post-race delirium, Hannah and Jeremy signed up for the Spartan "Beast" at Glenworth Valley in March 2027, a half marathon with 30 obstacles. Future Hannah has been notified and is reportedly furious.

Does any of this transfer to the day job?

Hannah's own verdict is that the weekend taught her nothing whatsoever about B2B sales, and we are inclined to leave that verdict standing rather than force a metaphor onto a spear throw.

What it does say something about is temperament. Third Hemisphere is run by two people who chose to spend their Saturday doing a hard thing twice, kept going through the obstacle that had beaten them before, and then committed to something harder before the adrenaline wore off. Clients tend to notice that pattern in the work as well.

Thanks as always to the Spartan Race Oceania crew for another stellar weekend. AROO.

READ ON HANNAH's LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7492183488813551616/