Located at Horseshoe Resort, this venue gave us indoor facilities, easy access for parking for 1126 participants and you could stay at the resort for around $175.00 Canadian. We chose to drive 20 minutes to Orillia and stayed in town for around $90.00 and had access to all the restaurants and malls. The race is a mountainous OCR with 7.2+KM and 38 obstacles to challenge you for speed, agility, and strength. This is one of the OCR World Championship qualifying races and the top 10 for male and female Elite athletes each received their qualifying shirts for the event plus a custom made wooden plaque. The added bonus was they also offered all top 10 general racers (per category 50-59 yrs etc...) a spot in the OCRWC. This was a very well organized event directed by Jesse Ward Bruce, a seasoned racer. It was apparent that he took the needs of the racers seriously and provided a great course, lots of variety with multiple challenges back to back. Snow was incorporated into some areas and added a chilly frosting to everyone at the start. Some obstacles included the trampoline wall, rope climbs, wall climbs, balance beams, log carries, tire flips, water crossings and ropes. Racers were well informed from the minute they signed up until it was time to race. Heats were well planned so there were no bottlenecks along the route and each finisher received a medal. The medals deserve a mention as they are big, bold and solid! Elite racers headed off first and then heats were released gradually thereafter. Jesse himself was the MC who kept everyone motivated and engaged. The resort itself is well laid out and provided racers with indoor storage and washrooms and Tremar provided a great outdoor shower for those needing to rinse off. Parking was $10.00 the day of the event and allowed racers to come and go to their cars with ease. A small vendor village was inside and offered hats, t-shirts and additional XMan swag. Race kit pick-up was offered the night before so there were no line-ups to deal with the day of the event. The race kit itself was well worth the $60-$80.00 entrance fee and included a tech tee, headband, sticker and timing chip. The final 1/2 pipe wall was great for spectators and photographers alike and demonstrated great team support as finishers returned to help fellow racers conquer the challenge. Quidchrono provided quick and accurate results so finishers could see if they had qualified or not for the October Championships. Online results were available the next day, as were photographs and Facebook posts. Medics were on site. Family friendly venue. Great location.