Fighting Mental Illness with Flight

Hi I'm Trey and this October I'll be competing in what is billed as the "world's toughest air race", the Icarus Trophy , as well as trying to raise money for charity. Read on for the full story and please donate if you can!

Why should you care?  

Well it truly is one of the most epic, hilarious, and terrifying races the planet has ever seen.  In this race I'll be flying a paramotor 1000 miles over the Rocky Mountains completely unsupported.  

What's a paramotor you ask?


That is a paramotor! It's basically a souped up lawnmower engine with a carbon fiber propellor that you put on like a backpack. Coupled with a paraglider, it becomes one of the most bad ass aircraft in the world. Pilots can take off and land in very small spaces, climb to heights above mountains, as well as fly low and slow to get a birds eye view.


Ok, back to the race!  I'll be flying 1000 miles across the Rocky's from Montana to Nevada completely unsupported.  Flying 1000 miles on a paramotor isn't easy when you have help, but I'll be trying to complete the race without any.  This means everything that I'll need to survive I'll have to carry with me.  If I need gas, I have to (hopefully) land near a gas station or airport  and hike or get a ride to the pump.  I'll also carry a small tent and sleeping bag so that I'll have a place to stay should I get stuck in the wild.  This is not some fancy gentleman's race in expensive cars. This is man fighting to survive and win. This is true adventure at it's finest.

So why the hell am I doing this?

There are a number of factors that have led me to attempt this race.  Obviously I love flying and want to be the best pilot I can be.  This is certainly one of the pieces of this puzzle, but the real reason is much deeper and more personal.  Over the past few years, I've had some really amazing experiences, but I've also had some of the most trying.  I've rubbed shoulders with billionaires and seen that all it takes to win is to try, but I've also struggled with a family member battling mental illness.

Because of these experiences, I've decided to try.  In addition to raising money for the official race charity, Cool Earth (an anti rainforest deforestation charity) , I'll be raising money for a charity called NAMI.  NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  I'm hoping that through supporting organizations like NAMI we can come closer to finding effective treatments and maybe someday a cure for the millions of humans that suffer from mental illness.

I appreciate your support and hope you'll root for me and watch live as I fly for the Icarus Trophy this October!