Gibsonia woman conquers Mississippi
Tri-State Sports & News Service
The Mississippi River was in a menacing mood Aug. 913 at the National Canoe and Kayak Marathon Championships.Its unforgiving current even caused veteran racer Edna Spang of Gibsonia to takenotice. “Itwas wicked,” she said. Wicked, but winnable for this resilient 49-year-old wife and mother, who faced the mighty waters in Dubuque, Iowa,head-on.
Spang defended her nationaltitle in the 12.4-mile Sea Kayakdivision, while adding another gold medal in the 6mile Stand Up Paddleboard. She rounded out the weekend with a silver in the 12mile Unlimited Racing Kayak.
“Every course is different — and you really have to know how to negotiate the waters,” said Spang, a thrillseeker extraordinaire who has done everything from run a 100-mile ultramarathon in the jungles of Costa Rica to enduring a 50-mile sojourn from rim to rim at the Grand Canyon. “I had concerns that I’d have some problems. Fortunately, though,I didn’t.”
On the men’s side. Hansel Lucas III of Brookville won his third consecutive national championship in the Sea Kayak and finished as the runner-up in the UnlimitedRacing Kayak.
For Spang, the event in Dubuque was a continuation of a Tour de Force that began in 2014, when she started competing nationally. She has won the Sea Kayak Unlimited three times (2014, 2015, 2017), the one-person Racing Kayak twice (2014, 2015) and the two-person RacingKayak twice (2014, 2015).
Asfor paddleboarding, she had never competed in the event until the recently completed national finals. Yet, she went out and won the grueling race against competitorswho were as much as 29years her junior.
“Pretty crazy how it happened,” said Spang, who manages the Adams Ridge Community Pool, while also serving as a Red Cross instructor for lifeguarding, CPR and emergency training certification. “I was originally going to race in the K2 (two-person kayak), but my partner had a shoulder injury. So, on Sunday, the only race available was the standup paddleboard. A [vendor]loaned me one of his, and thenext thing I knew, I was at the starting line. It was a little different, but I’m one of those people who like to step out of thebox and try new things.”
Spang pointed out that the fieldof women competitors at the marathon races is relatively small because, frankly, few want to navigate 6 to 12 miles of untamed waters. Even Spang questions herself,at times.
“I’m still sore,” she said, a week after the event. “But I like the challenge. And even though I’m an older competitor, I have maturity on my side. I don’t panic. I also have the best equipment you can possiblyhave.”
Spang, who grew up on a tomato farm in Lewisburg, Pa., uses a top-of-the-line, Epic V8 Ultra Kayak provided by her sponsor, Tres RiosSports of Millvale.
“Makes a huge difference,”she said.
It was 13 years ago that Spang became immersed in outdoor sports. This was triggered,she said, by a marriage that was at a crossroads. Concerned that she and husband Tim were drifting apart — she was focused on an infant son; he was juggling work and graduate school — she signed them up for Adventure Racing, a multisport activity featuring mountain biking, trail running and paddling.
Turns out, the venture not onlyreinvigorated their marriage, but also led to numerous victories for the couple. Edna set the pace as a runner andpaddler; Tim as a biker.
“We fell in love with it,” shesaid.
A nine-time winner of the Pittsburgh Triathlon and Adventure Race, Edna Spang shows no signs of slowing down as she closes in on her 50th birthday. Next month, she is set to compete in both the Boulder Beast ultramarathonon Bald Eagle Mountain near Lock Haven, Pa., and the Capital Challenge in Charleston, W.Va. The latter features biking, kayaking andrunning.