UOG -ULTRA O-GAIN 24HR Orienteering Race, Buffalo Creek Colorado 2015

ULTRA O-Gain(Rogaine) Orienteering Race
Buffalo Creek Colorado
July 3-4, Friday Night start at 8pm.

We were really excited to see a 24 Orienteering Race in our own back yard!  We signed up right away!  Having work off on Friday July 3rd was great allowing for plenty of time to get to check in at 6pm.  We arrived to a remote start/finish location (camp site) in Buffalo Creek area.  We decided not to camp as we live only 1hr and 30 minutes away, we did bring sleeping bags for after if we were tired to rest before driving home.  We checked in, chowed our dinner and were ready to receive the Map only to find out they would not be handed out til 7:30 or until everyone is checked in.  So we went back to the car and got ready so that when we did get the maps we just had to take care of the route planning and we were off.  At 7:30 we got our  1:24,000 maps.  The rules and gear list were very detailed that there were no questions at the pre race meeting.  With 41 CP's (all different point values), 1983 Map with 1/24 scale with deceleration of 8.5. 

JZ quickly highlighted all the points greater than 50 on the map in one color, 49-20 in another color and 20 less than in another color.  JZ planned the route getting most of the high point values and picking up ones in between.  Leaving some around the start finish based on time at the end of the race.  It was a very informal and relaxed start of 8:00 pm.  Even thought the race was unsupported you could come back to your car at anytime during the 24 hours for anything.  We planned to not return to the start/finish until 24 hours was up.
We took off at 8:03 working the course in a clockwise direction.  The first 5 hours we picked off cp's with ease after some major bushwhack climbing (and lots of side hilling) on boulders that at one point felt unsafe.  Taking a barring from 27 to 76(big campfire here and they asked if we were in the amazing race lol) to 40, almost to 40 we turned around to take a look at the view and WOW!  Amazing!  The terrain was rocky, some nasty yucca plants that went right thru fabric, and a ton of freaking foxtails that stuck to socks and gaiters and don't like to let go. JZ had issues of these going thru the vents on the toes of his Salomon Fell Raisers as these great shoes that vent well turn into foxtail pin cushions (a strip of duct tape across the front would have helped but we had none) so he pushed threw until we were out of the area and then removed them.

Lots of mountain sand and not much shade from the sun about half the course was in the burned out area from the Buffalo Creek Fire on May 18, 1996. This area is amazing because its like being on different planets as the topography and vegetation changes. (do you see the cp next to the boulder at the bottom of the photo?) Tons of Climbing and bouldering took a toll on PWilds Insole to the point it started to cut the back of her left heal.  Mole skin did not help so she took the Insole out and did the rest of the race with out one in her left shoe.  Not recovering very well this took a turn and slowed the team down the rest of the 10 hours.  She was not happy as she felt good otherwise.  Getting her poles out she pushed on. 

Temps got into the 80's during the day and 45ish at night.  At one point the sleep monsters took over around 330 am and PWild had to rest her eyes for 20 minutes as we were up for 34 hours by this point.  Laying right on the trail side by side to stay warm.  We ended up putting our rain jackets on for a couple hours late night/early morning just to keep the chill off.  The sun came up quickly and we were re-leaved!  The CPs did have a piece of reflective tape on them, not traditional O Flags, they were white plastic PVC pipes. Will talk about the 3CPS that gave us trouble.

CP 55

  
We spent an hour and half at this CP before moving on.  Yea too much time, but ya just don't ever want to leave one.  The rest of the CPs we have found before this one were dead on with pace count, barrings and clues.  So we thought it has to be here. We counted in ran across a pile of boulders but searched and searched but did not see the control. So we check the surrounding piles up and down the spur.....Nothing......

 CP80

This was the second CP that gave us difficulty. We attacked off the gate again and counted in (we were not having much luck with gates today). . We scoured the surrounding area's and still no luck. Time spent...had to let it go. Ouch to leave 80 points.

 CP67

This was the third CP that gave us difficulty. We did not see the trail continue on the other side of the creek and things were pretty Steep in this area. So we elected due to time to leave it. (Later talking to Mark that is did pick up a bit down stream, but 67 was still a tough one to find)

 

We want to thank Patrick the Race director for putting on a challenging race. It was a great design as controls were well places and the descriptions were good. Now there were some tricky points which we shared above that if you didn't approach from the right direction you apparently will have a hard time or spend extra time pinpointing the point. We hope this is a normal race and the parks department helps support our sport as this could help show how much we love the area and enjoy Colorado.

PWild and JZ feeeling the heat in the burn zone.

We had to Treat the water we added in our Source
Water bladders. Yes, that is a dead mesquite larvae
so close to extra protein.

To our surprise Mark Lattanzi of Team Oddyssey was in town to race.
 He wound up first overall Surprise surprise. Great job Mark.
 Its always great to compare notes
 with a highly experienced Navigator like Mark.  

She moves so fast that she is blurry, Paulette showed up too.
on right is Teresa, Marks better half of course. 

It was great to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones during this race. The family is closer then you know and we enjoy that about our sport. We Finished the Day with as the 2nd place team and 6th overall.

 http://cpadventures.com/ultra-o-gaine/results/