North of 7 Challenge – more of a challenge than first expected

Jeff Green | Sep 21, 2022

Sylvie Manaigre and Mitch Broser follow in a long tradition of urban refugees who have discovered the joys, and some of the challenges, of rural living in the Canadian Shield landscape.

Luckily, unlike the settlers who arrived in the Cloyne area expecting that the 100 acre parcel they had acquired was usable farmland that could support them, only to be daunted by rocks, trees, mosquitoes and a long winter, they had a plan. But when they took the plunge and became full time residents at their property on Jacques Bay Road in the July of 2021 from Toronto, there were some things that they did not know.

One of them was the local community.

“We found the property in the fall of 2020. We knew we wanted to move out to the country somewhere, but we were open to anything, really. And this property was available on Jacques Bay Road, with 96 acres, a cabin that needed some work, and a lot of possibilities. We walked the property, talked to some neighbours, made an offer in February of 2021, and we moved here,” Sylvie said, in an interview this week.

Mitch is a chiropractor, and he set up a practice based in Northbrook, called Move Better Health and Performance, and aside from working on that business, the couple have working on the property, and developing the site as an obstacle course. And she joined the local volunteer fire department.

Sylvie’s passion is Obstacle Course Racing. Until recently, she was competing in the professional circuit as an elite athlete, which culminates in the OCR World Championships, which are taking place in Vermont this year.

While most courses in the OCR circuit are located in fields, converted motocross tracks, Sylvie's and Mitch’s vision was to use their new property, which already has a number of trails because it is a used by the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Associations as part of their trail each winter, as an obstacle course.

“Unlike most courses, we didn't have to bring so much in because there are so many obstacles already here because of the terrain.”

Even the Derecho, which touched their property in May, ended up being employed in the course that they built.

“We left some fallen trees in place for people to climb over and under.”

On September, the first North of 7 Challenge, an official qualifying even for the OCR world championships, was held at the new Jacques Bay Road course.

“We really wanted to introduce the sport to the local community as well as bringing experience racers to this unique course, and that worked out really well,” said Sylvie.

135 participants raced in different divisions on the three kilometre course, and about half of them were locals, most of whom trying out the sport for the first time in the 'fun run' division.

One athlete who did not compete was Sylvie Minaigre, however.

She was busy organising, checking on the course, co-ordinating with local businesses such as Milligan Meats, who ran the BBQ, so it would have been hard for her to find time to run.

There was another good reason for her to miss out on racing this time, something that was not planned when the decision to hold a race was made a year ago.

That reason is Sylvie and Mitch's son Beau, who was celebrated his 4 week birthday on the day of the race.

After recovering from this first event, plans for a winter event and other possibilities for the property are being developed.

“Eventually we plan to build a barn as an event space and a studio where Move Better Health can have a permanent location, but that will take time.”

As for the decision to settle in Cloyne and build a life that they took 18 months ago, Sylvie and Mitch seem to have no regrets.

“We just love it here. This is where we are putting down roots,” she said.