A Little Media Attention!

This is a little overdue, but I've been preoccupied with being lazy and gearing up for some races. Matt Stewart was kind enough to drop my name to Scott Richardson, a reporter for The Pantagraph (nothing satanic, although it sounds a lot like it). Scott got wind of how I quit smoking to focus on adventure racing and training for races like the Redbird, so he did a little Human Interest piece on yours truly! It's pasted below, but here's the link to the article. Some friends up here in Monona were visiting their family in central IL and saw my face staring at them during breakfast and brought the article to me, strangely random and convenient at the same time!

HUDSON -- Evan Wing was a former high-school athlete who picked up a cigarette habit in college. His fitness went up in smoke with the tobacco. The only exercise he got was mountain biking once in a while.

But that was before the 27-year-old Wheaton native and branch manager at a bank in Madison, Wis. was introduced to adventure racing on a trip to the Bloomington-Normal area last year. Wing snuffed out the butts to train for the Illinois State University Red Bird Challenge Adventure Race held at Comlara Park near Hudson.

The three-part event, which will be run again April 19, requires teams of two or four to canoe on Evergreen Lake and maneuver a course through the woods on foot and mountain bike.

In 2008, Wing's team came in dead last. But the experience was life-changing. Since then, he's raced in several adventure races, including a grueling 24-hour endurance test that covered more than 70 miles on bikes, 15 miles on foot and seven miles on the water. He's joined a team of adventure racers. His goal is be a motivational speaker to encourage people to give up smoking and invest the money they save wisely.

"I have a very addictive personality," said Wing. "I traded adventure racing for smokes."

He's not alone, according to Alissa Pywell, coordinator of the ISU Outdoor Adventure Program, the race sponsor. ISU Red Bird Challenge has launched others besides Wing into the sport that is growing in popularity throughout the world.

"Our event is a great gateway to try this new activity," she said. "Ours is open to everybody, pretty laid back, but a little different than other ones people have done. I know several people who have started here and gone on to pursue other adventure races. That's great."

Features that make the Red Bird Challenge a "little different" are the mystery challenges sprinkled through the course. Last year's race, which attracted 25 teams, started with a three-legged race from the start line to the canoes.

The competition and fitness aspects of adventure racing attracted Wing. After being a captain on his high school volleyball team in Wheaton and playing defensive lineman for the school, his exercise focused mostly on mountain biking and commuting to work in Chicago.

He heard about the Challenge, and asked some friends to make up a team.

"I just said, 'Hey, I want to do this race. Who's in? Who else has a screw loose?" said Wing. "I just kind of fell in love with the idea of doing an outdoorsy triathlon."

He jettisoned the cigarettes, started running and biking with a backpack filled with canned soup to add weight, and got as ready as he could.

"I loved it," he said.

As proof, Wing can cite his later entry in a 24 hour race near Fond du Lac, Wis., that featured a bike ride both on- and off-road of more than 70 miles and about 15 miles trekking on foot.

He joined an adventure racing group called Fat Otter, which sponsors races, and launched his own Web site atwww.wingspanracing.blogspot.com. Among 2009 events, he plans to take part in a 36-hour race from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River via mountain bike, kayak, trekking and roller blades the week after the Challenge.

One day, he hopes to do even more rugged expedition, including the Primal Quest, a race in South Dakota spanning 600 miles and 10 days.

Forget nicotine, Wing is addicted to another chemical now.

"It's the adrenaline," he said. "It's getting out there knowing you're not in a gym, being out in nature and seeing things you've never seen before. It feels like you're back playing GI Joe as a kid."