O2X at Loon mountain

Course map

So this race is truly unique, in that I have never seen anything like this before. This is a race to the top of a mountain, and the course is not a trail, it is off trail. You go over some trails, but much of the course has been searched for. There are no man made obstacles like you would find at ocrs, but instead you get giant boulders you have to scale. No tools needed, just the right clothes for the temps, and water if you need it, and you probably will. The race is up the mountain most of the way, a few sideways points, barely any down, mostly up, and several places that you have to crawl up. It is that steep, and so much fun! There were fallen tress, and really rugged slopes you ran (or hiked) up. This race is all about the elevation gain, they show it on the map, they mark it by increments of 500 ft, and on course they had 3 markers for you . They also had a few water stops, I believe three, and had some electrolyte water as well, which was great! This company is seriously the best around at marking, this is their second race I have done (I did Sugar bush last year, and was amazed that it was their first race) there was one spot I took exactly 2 steps and dd not see markings and turned back and knew where to go. Close to the end where you get to go through the boulders was awesome! One of the cool touches on the course this year, they had a person in a Sasquatch suit on course, and he scared a few people, and a few other people in full costume suits, as well as the founders, all of them were giving out high 5's and words of encouragement, it was one of those cool things you do not often see on a race course, and makes it that much more memorable! And once you finished at the top of the mountain, you got a gondola ride down, really cool, and the views at the top were great!

View from the top, epic selfie

Now for some of the other things that make this company great. They are committed to the planet, they put it best on their web page:


As a member of 1% for the Planet, we are committed to promoting sustainable living and environmental awareness in everything we do, both on the mountain and around the world.
You will see these practices put into place in every event. For example, we reduce or recycle municipal solid waste and selected industrial wastes, and we donate at least 1 percent of sales to nonprofit partners among the 1% for the Planet network. Other ways we put our environmental commitment into action include:

• Recycle cardboard, metals, paper and plastic through a single-stream collection method
• Offer compostable or recyclable dinnerware, paper goods and napkins.
• Compost all food scraps and coffee grinds
• Encourage carpool and public transportation for our event
• Work with local suppliers, business partners, and customers to reduce environmental impact of activity
• Donate salvageable foods to a local food bank or community outreach program
• Provide bulk servings of typical single-serve packages (such as coffee, creamers, sugar, etc.)
• Set benchmarks to limit municipal solid waste and recycling
• Collect, organize and create a simple report on municipal solid waste and recycling
• Strive for zero waste

Swag!

That is pretty cool, and is apparent at the venue. Some of the other really cool things about this race, the encourage you to camp out on the mountain, really close to the base camp (festival) and hang out the night before with the owners and have a fireside chat, and enjoy the atmosphere before the race! They know how to get the right kind of sponsors as well. They are sponsored by lululemon, so the finishers shirts were great! when I read that they were using lululemon shirts I thought awesome, and I wondered if it would be plastered with logos for other sponsors, but no, just a small O2X logo on the sleeve, nice touch! (now it looks like I paid for a super awesome shirt that I got for signing up1)



But that's not all! they also just got sponsored by Guinness, so on friday, before the race, from 4pm to 10pm, after you registered, you pick up a metal cup (that you got to keep) and all you can drink begins. You could get Guinness (reg or blonde) They also had 2 wines to choose from, hot choc (and Baileys if you wanted) apple cider, or hard cider (they added rum to it). So you could enjoy your day, and they also had the post beer the day after the race. Also a cool sponsor to have you may ask? Dunkin Donuts!!! so you could buy egg sandwiches, or all day on race day they had free bagels and cream cheese, I think 3 or 4 different kinds of bagels. They also had other food on friday and saturday, you could choose pizza, burgers, lobster roll, and so on.

Base camp also had solar charging stations, recovery area with a sponsor that was letting you test out muscle stimulating technology to speed up recovery. Also some games to play in the base camp, like corn hole, and over sized inflated bowling and Frisbees. there were several fires the night before (as well as the race morning) and blankets and fire towers to warm up the area, and that was nice as it was in the 40's when the sun set!

The medals were titanium sporks with a bottle opener on the end! you also got a draw string bag O2X branded, candy bar, a juti bar, and a Kill cliff bar.

So like I said, they care about the planet, they give back to the communities they race in, have the best trail marking I have seen, and the best swag around! also, the price may seem high, as it tends to be around 100, but keep in mind a few things. They do not charge you for: parking, bag check or processing fees, and seriously, THE BEST SWAG AROUND!!! so this race is well worth it, and to keep the environment the same, which is awesome, they are capping registrants so it  can still be a small race, and wonderful atmosphere, and I love the idea, so sign up early, Loon mountain was wonderful, as will there next races.

Honestly, my only complaint is that they only have one race in the north east, and that says something!

Next year they will be back at Loon, and so will I, if you want to check them out and have not heard about them their page is here

So until next time
Stay active
Stephen