Exporting ai from Extreme Pro

Hi Folks,

I am an amateur designer who has created a cool crest that was adopted by a new school and now they would like it to be more than a high rez tif. What they need is:

"Can you please provide the follow.
Adobe Illustrator vector artwork. Please save as an EPS or AI file. Be sure to convert all text to outlines.
Unsupported art file formats: QuarkXpress, Pagemaker, InDesign and Freehand.
Note: Microsoft Office programs (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Power Point, Excel, etc.) are not graphics programs and will not be recognized through art acceptance process."

I am using Xara Extreme Pro and do not have Adobe Illustrator. I have exported the files as ai but don't know if they will work in Illustrator. Would someone be so kind as to give them a try and see if they look like the tif files that I have uploaded to the following URL:

http://www.catharina.ca/stmichael/

Attached are:
StMichael-Crest.xar - the original design
StMichael-Crest-Drawing.xar - the crest turned into line art with no drop shadows or special fills
StMichael-Crest-Drawing.ai - the drawing exported as .ai from Xara (and the one I hope to submit)

I was unable to attach the original design exported as an .ai Illustrator file to this message but have uploaded it to the St. Michael art page linked above.

I am volunteering this work. It would be VERY costly for me to invest in Illustrator and would prefer not to if I can avoid it. It is important that I get this done this weekend and any help with this project would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!
Cat =^..^=

The files come into Illustrator CS5 OK but my PDF came in better. PDF is Illustrator's other default file format and is accepted by most printers. It is like the next generation of EPS.

I exported an AI file from Illustrator SC5 but the file size is well over 4.5MB and too large to attach here.

If you have to have it in AI then e-mail me and I will send you the file.

gary@gwpriester.com