XMAN Race – Sherbrooke 2016
I participated/raced in all three XMAN races last year and came away with the opinion that the XMAN Race series is the best obstacle course race series in North America. When I decided what races to do in 2016, I made sure to consider all the XMAN races as #BucketListOCR’s and they received priority over other obstacle course races on the same weekend. Unfortunately, I started the first half of 2016 injured and unable to race at all and I had to miss the first two XMAN races, so I was mega excited to finally make it to this race.
Registration and Festival
Registration was fast and even though English was not the staff’s primary language, I had no problems at all.
As I have come to expect with XMAN, the festival area was set up well and had no problems handling a large number of both racers and spectators.
Pre-race MC
French is the primary language in this part of Canada, so the MC only speaks French the majority of the time, but he had great energy all day and never stopped working pretty much the entire time. Even though I didn’t understand what he was saying, I still enjoyed him and the French speaking crowd clearly does as well.
The Course
One of the reasons I love the XMAN races is they keep the courses around 7.5 to 8 kilometers and always design a course that uses both the mountains and terrain at its best potential. Unlike some of the other larger obstacle course race series XMAN uses technical terrain that is challenging, but not hazardous to racers health. The course went both up and back down the mountain several times in the deep woods, but I never felt like I was in an area that I was seriously at risk of getting injured. Don’t misunderstand what I am trying to describe, the terrain was still tough and some of the climbs were very challenging and made for both a good and challenging course.
What I also love about XMAN is the number of legit obstacles placed on the course and this course didn’t let me down. The course had pretty much all the obstacles I remember from last year which include a barbed wire crawl, an inverted walls obstacle, a Tarzan swing, high walls to climb over, a sandbag carry, I water jug carry, a slosh pipe (black PVP pipes partially filled with water) carry, a sled drag, a straight bar to monkey, the XMAN race version of the Over-Under-Thru, which has more than one over, under, and thru section, and another fun and pretty unique obstacle is two large blue plastic barrels that racers have to worm/squeeze through.
I think readers get my point that this course was packed/loaded with legit, fun and challenging obstacles and also used the mountain and terrain to make a challenging, yet safe course. Most of the obstacles I mentioned above are from last year, but XMAN also added new obstacles, like an angled wall traverse that is similar to the BattleFrog Tip of the Spear obstacle, a balance crossing obstacle that was pretty tough, a new black drainage pipe crawl that spun around in circles as racers crawled through them, and several other new obstacles I haven’t seen at the previous XMAN races.
Several sections of the course were designed either right next to or not far from the festival area, so spectators were able to see friends and family attempt multiple obstacles, which is always cool for both racers and spectators. The course looped around the ski mountain several times, but did make its way to the very top of the mountain for climb # 2 and a little more than half way through the course and as always I took a moment to enjoy the breeze and amazing view.
Last thing worth noting for those not familiar with XMAN races, they don’t have a burpee type penalty system for failed obstacles, but rather use an additional lap section of course, which they have done for at least two years and is something I have seen other obstacle course companies adopt this year.
The Bling
Yet another reason I love the XMAN race series is the bling, it includes a sexy finisher medal, a nice dri-fit type finisher shirt (which are both unique to each race/venue), an XMAN Race car sticker, and XMAN race headband and a beer. I can’t think of many obstacle course races that do a better job when it comes to the amount of bling provided to racers. They also provide a special medal to racers that complete all three XMAN races at no additional charge, which I am very unhappy I am not eligible for this year.
Overall Feelings and Event Rating
I haven’t done near as many obstacle course races at this point of the season that I did last year, but I have done pretty much all the big name races multiple times and for the most part very few of them have added almost anything new for 2016, so I was very interested in seeing what XMAN’s course would look like this year. I ended last year and considered the XMAN race series the best OCR series in both America and Canada, so I had high expectations for XMAN going into this race and in my opinion they are not resting on previous success and are still working hard to deliver the best race in North America.
The staff/volunteers were amazing as always, XMAN has a great core group of volunteers that show up for pretty much every one of their races and they work hard and are always smiling, the bling is some of the best in the business, the course is not just a lot of trail runs, but rather a true obstacle course that includes a large amount of challenge, fun and very safe obstacles, the MC and other staff entertain both spectators and racers all day, I think readers get my point, I had a great time and wasn’t let down at all, I am rating this 5 out of 5 stars and cannot wait for my next XMAN race in Quebec on September 24th!
Text by: Walter F Hendrick ( OCRSandy )