Chicago Athlete and Clif Bar are proud to announce our 2007 Clif Bar Athletes of the Year, triathlete Amy Wenz and cyclist Reid Mumford. Thank you to everyone who sent in votes, and congratulations to these worthy athletes!

Amy and Reid will receive a Clif Bar prize package including a Clif Bar Timbuktu bag, a box of Clif Bars, a box of Builders Bars, Clif Shot Bloks and more.

Amy Wenz
Amy Wenz completed the Ironman Florida, the 2006 "Goofy Challenge" (the moniker given to people who ran the Walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon on successive days), and even swam and biked the Steelhead Half Ironman Triathlon with a broken toe.

Her greatest accomplishment, though, has been her extensive fundraising effort for Team In Training. She raised more than $16,000 in 2006.

Wenz's love of grueling events may not be unique, except for the fact that she is a survivor of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. First diagnosed in 1999, she endured three months of chemotherapy followed by three months of radiation to the neck, chest and abdomen. Her disease is in remission, and received a full bill of health from her oncologist at her annual visit in January.

Her ongoing dedication to charity athletics (six years and counting) has pushed her to try new athletic endeavors and push her own boundaries as a competitive athlete. Next up, Wenz and her husband are climbing Mount Ranier for charity. "We thought, after an Ironman, how can we get our friends and family to donate again?"

She stays motivated, she says, because she knows so many friends and family who are still battling cancer. "The people who are still battling is what inspires us the most to keep going."

Reid Mumford
Cyclist Reid Mumford was on the tails of the pros or beating them out all summer with the Athletes By Design team. He went helmet-to-helmet with riders from the Toyota team at the Memorial Day weekend races in Quad Cities, Iowa and pulled out a third place finish after pushing them the whole race. He won the Top Amateur jersey at the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival National Grand Prix in Minneapolis in June-- "with help from my team," he adds.

And the summer victories just kept coming: second at the USPRO National Road Championship road race, sixth at the USPRO National Road Championship time trial, second at the International Cycling Classic (Superweek), plus local races.

When describing his races, Mumford always mentions how the rest of his team placed and how they helped send him to the podium (or vice versa).

"It's always good just to go out and ride as hard as you can," Mumford advises. "The way to get faster is to ride faster."

He'll have plenty of chances to challenge himself in the 2007 season. Mumford recently signed with the professional team Kelly Benefits Strategies/Medifast and attended training camp in late February.