Leoni gets intense with a 'sheer sport'

Abbie Leoni says her husband, Ed, is a 50-year-old in a 30-year-old's body.

"That's an accurate assessment," Ed says.

What makes it true? Take a triathlon and change the swim to a 6-mile canoe ride, flip the road run to an 8-mile run upstream, take your bike and equip it with maps and clues to help you find your way through a city, then head for a 20-mile ride on a path as narrow as the bike itself. And do all this while carrying all the equipment, except the bike, needed for the journey on your back.

Maybe a 20-year-old's body would be more fitting for Leoni.

It's called adventure racing, and for good reason.

"It is relatively new. It's similar to the triathlon set-up, yet so much different," Leoni said. "Not to mention it could take up to six days to finish."

That's a whole week of running through freezing waters and carrying bikes over your heads with two teammates by your side doing the same thing.

"You have to stick together for motivational purposes and simply because you can't finish until your last man is across the line," Leoni said. "It is important to stick together. If you don't stick together, you don't have a strategy."

Don't forget that the race organizers occasionally throw in a surprise event. Most recently for Leoni, the surprise event sent him climbing up a tower to a zip wire, hooking himself to it and flying down.

"Adventure," said Leoni, laughing.

But the sport is catching on.

Gaining steam

"There are all kinds of people interested. You couldn't imagine," he said. "Even people around the area. Many have expressed interest in going to the next race."

Leoni, a professor of outdoor adventure and lifestyle enhancement at Southeast Missouri State University, is planning his own adventure race that will include rock climbing, cliff jumping and a rock course. The race also will have a survivor component mixed in.

"We'll split the squads into two teams," Leoni said. "They'll be spending most of their time off the ground doing things you would have loved to do as a child."

Leoni has spiced things up with his own surprise, but he declined to reveal it to keep the secrecy.

Before moving to Jackson and then to Cape Girardeau, Leoni lived in Chicago. "That explains why I needed outdoor adventure," Leoni said.

Back for more

The fun he's had in past events pushes Leoni to continue the sport he loves. The same events could cause a lot of people to turn around and head back to the starting line.

"You pick a team in town and the next thing you know you are somewhere in Michigan knee-deep in mud," Leoni said. "Keep in mind this is a race. It is a sheer sport, and I guess this is why I continue to do what I do."

How do you prepare for the rough circumstances?

"Rain or shine, find a creek and start paddling up it. Then get out and run farther up it. Get on your bike, ride it 20 miles up a hill. Run some more, through woods this time. Then find a bridge or something to jump off of," Leoni said. "Getting in the gym for about two hours a day, seven days a week would probably help."

The strenuous training and injury risk doesn't bother Leoni a bit.

"I hope to be doing this up until my last minute on the planet."