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Recovering from hernia surgery could not keep Paul Spinner from participating in the inaugural Mid-Winter Challenge on Saturday morning in Charleston.

“I run 50 races a year and, after three weeks off, I got to get with it,” he said.

Spinner, 63, of Paris, Ill., had hernia surgery three weeks ago and participated in the three-mile race Saturday against doctors’ orders.

The Mid-Winter Challenge, held at Carl Sandburg Elementary School, was sponsored by the Charleston Parks and Recreation Department, which also sponsored the Charleston Challenge Duathlon in September.

The Mid-Winter Challenge comprised three separate races: a 5K, 10K and a 15K race, each passing through the icy-slush covered streets of Charleston.

Neither these conditions nor doctor’s orders could deter Spinner from competing in the 5Krace, which he said was necessary to get his racing season started.

“The sooner you get going after surgery, the better it is for you,” he said.

This statement proved true when Spinner finished fourth in the race and loudly proclaimed after crossing the finish line, “I’m not dead yet!”

He said his finish was more impressive than he thought it would be.

“I did it six or seven minutes faster than I thought I would,” Spinner said.

As with most of the other competitors, Spinner is part of the racing community that gathers at these events to pit their skills against each other and the elements.

Scott Berry, a racer who helped design the course for the challenge, said even though the events are competitions, most of the people participating are friends.

“It’s like a big group of friends who haven’t hung out together for a while,” he said.

Berry said most racers do not see each other for long periods of time because there are few winter races.

Diane Ratliff, race coordinator for the Charleston Parks and Recreation Department, said the department decided to hold the race in winter was because of interest expressed by the community.

“We thought they were crazy,” she said. “But we were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who signed up.”

Ratliff said the department hopes to hold this event for years to come and said the event will be held on the first Saturday of February from now on.

While several of the racers were from the Charleston/Mattoon area, some traveled from different areas across Illinois.

One such person was Jamie Sexton, a sophomore architecture major at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Sexton said she decided to compete because she enjoys running and traveling.

“I just like to come to different places,” she said.

Sexton, who finished second among the women in the 15K race, said she does not mind the cold when she is running. The temperature at race time was in the mid-30s.

Another racer who did not let the cold affect him was Tim Scarpinato, a Champaign resident, who had recently competed in a stage race in Indiana during zero-degree weather.

He read about the challenge on the Second Wind Running Club’s Web site.

“It being the middle of winter, anything I can find is great,” Scarpinato said.

In addition to being a test of his skills, Scarpinato said the race also helps him prepare for the Boston Marathon in April.

Alongside the dedicated racers were amateur participants who came to see what being in a competitive race is like.

This was the case for Eastern political science graduate student Allyson Stoeck.

Stoeck said she used to compete in high school but had not done so in many years and was surprised by how well she did in the race.

“I finished with a better time here than I did on the treadmill, which is surprising because a treadmill is supposed to be easier,” she said.

The least experienced and youngest participant was 11-year-old Isaac Dallas.

Isaac, who participated in the 10K race, said he was not looking to win the race.

“I finished,” he said. “That’s all I wanted to do.”

John Dallas, his father, said he hopes to foster this love of racing within his son.

“I want him to have a love of racing without pushing him to,” Dallas said.

Jordan Crook can be reached at 581-7945 or at jscrook@eiu.edu.

Eastern Illinois Alumni Josh Kerchival crosses the finish line a little chilly as he finishes the Charleston Mid-Winter Classic shirtless on Saturday morning. (John Bailey / The Daily Eastern News)

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