Spartan Race Toronto 2015 - Everything You Need To Know

LocationBrimacombe 4098 Regional Road 9 Orono, ON L0B 1M0 You can go ahead and enter the above into your GPS. Note that this may also come up as Oshawa Ski Club. As long as the address is the same, you are fine. The universal law of any race dictates that no matter how well marked the race, someone may get lost. . That being said, the race location is very easy to find, only two turns from the (401) highway. There are multiple gates that allow you to enter the ski resort, so follow the signs. If you are coming from Toronto(ish), you are looking at 60-75 minute drive - give yourself two hours before your start time, and you should be fine.

Logistics Spartan Race Canada is working with Trumin this year. Once you register for the race, you should receive an email with the link, which you can follow to "check in", sign your waiver form and get your event pass. While I loved the convenience of being able to fill out the form online, the process was not the most intuitive - it took quite a bit of clicking around. Once you complete the process, the event passes are sent directly to your email address - you can either print them out, or they can be scanned at the race off your phone, using QR code.

Race Course As Spartan Sprints go, this venue allows for a fairly fast race. The terrain is grassy. There are some groomed trails. Some gravel. In other words... tame.

Hills The hills are as steep as you can expect them to be at a ski resort in Ontario. So not very. The sharpest inclines can be seen on narrower hills marked as Black Diamond - if the course goes through those, it would be later in the race, as the racers are further spread out.

ShoesGiven the terrain, you will not need anything too aggressive or supportive. For a short course, SpeedCross will be an overkill, unless you race in those regardless of distance, and could use extra ankle support. I will be racing in my S-Lab Sense Ultras - both regular and Soft Ground editions would work well. Soft Ground has significantly more grip, but because the terrain is fairly forgiving, you'd be fine with the regular version. In fact, you may even get away with your road shoes. There is lots of green around, so I expect this to be a clean(ish) course, compared to many. Save perhaps for an intentional mud pit.

Fuel I will probably run without water for the Sprint, and with my hydration pack for the Super (there will be multiple aid stations on course, but I do like being able to drink when I need to on longer distances, rather than waiting for the next aid station). I will throw one energy gel into my back pocket for the short course, and 2-3 gels for the Super. If you are a slower racer, and expect to be out on course for couple of hours for the Sprint, I would strongly recommend bringing the hydration pack for both distances.

Gear Nothing special. My default outfit would be a tank top and 3/4 length racing pants. With vegetation and tall grass, you may want to wear compression socks or longer pants, if your skin is sensitive, or if you want to avoid cuts and bruises.

Weather The current weather forecast is showing a chance of showers on both Saturday and Sunday, but I wouldn't count on it. Double-check the weather forecast in a week, or do what I do - show up ready to race. In any conditions.

Say hello I am expecting to see lots of familiar faces out there. If we have not yet met, and you happen to recognize me, please do come up and say hello! Also...

Do me a favour and send this blog post to all your friends doing this event. If I can do even a tiny bit to optimize everyone's experience at this event, I'd be one happy girl. See you on the race course. Questions? Leave them in the comments. :) Liked this post? Check out the GPS data and some new obstacles from this year's Montreal Sprint and the race recap of Toronto Spartan Sprint 2012. Hugs, SOLO