o2x Summit Challenge at Wyndham NY

I’ve recently been on a roll running 5k’s, marathons, Tough Mudders and the o2x Summit Challenge in Windham, NY on October 25th, 2014. This year was o2x first year doing racing and I had the opportunity to participate in the last race of the year at Windham.

So what’s o2x? It’s a race series focused around mother nature and her natural obstacles without destroying or alternating the existing terrain. This makes a really cool race environment because its nature at its best!

The races are currently classified in “diamonds” much like you would find when skiing, for example the single diamond is ~1,000 vertical gain and around 3-5 miles in length, the double diamond is roughly ~2,000 vertical gain and 6-7 miles in length and the final most difficult is the triple diamond which is ~3,000 vertical gain and 7+ miles in length.

The race I participated in was a single diamond race in Windham, NY and the terrain consisted of streams, rocks, boulders and a lot of up hill running. The morning weather was cool and the ground on the trail was covered in leaves and wet. Three waves were scheduled 9am, 9:30am and 10am and I was in the first wave. We started at the base of the mountain and quickly made our way up to a massive boulder which we had to crawl through. They had two water stations throughout the course, a few people carried bottles of water or ran with a small camelbak. At the top of the mountain you got a really kick ass o2x water canteen for finishing and some hot cider.Oh and a really cool gondola ride to the bottom!

I’ll be honest I’m addicted to the o2x races and I’m trying to determine if I want to purchase a season pass next year. The biggest challenge is making sure I can attend all the events since I’ll have to travel a pretty decent distance so I’ll have to decide if the trade off is worth it. On the flip side, I like the premise of o2x, I like being in nature and I like that I’m less battered when completed as compared to a Tough Mudder.

The swag bag is also the best I’ve ever seen. It included a pair of mens or womens Lululemon running shorts, tshirt and a Juti bar.

Below are some pictures taken of me during the event. You can view more from the Windham race at Gameface Media.