"bearathon Man" Walks 26 Miles While Wearing Great Root Bear� Costume To Get Collectible A&w� Mug, Raise Money For Charity

Chris Twork of Menominee, Mich., is a serious collector of A&W� mugs � so serious he volunteered to put on a bear costume and walk 26 miles in order to get one of the company's limited-edition collector mugs. And after two days, he succeeded.

Twork, 42, won a recent A&W online contest: "What I'd do to get a Winking Bear Mug." He was so intent on getting one of the ultra-limited-edition mugs (only 984 are in circulation), he offered to walk from the A&W Restaurant in Reedsville, Wis., to the A&W Restaurant in DePere, Wis. � a distance of 26 miles: a "bearathon." Twork donned the giant, furry costume early on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 13 and by the time darkness fell that evening he had completed 20 miles of the trek, despite wind gusts of up to 40 mph. On Monday, Nov. 14, Twork completed the last six miles of the bearathon and arrived at the DePere restaurant, complete with police escort.

"The bearathon went really well," Twork said. "The first day was extremely windy and we had to use the chase van as a wind block. But the wind was actually a blessing because it whipped up under the bear suit and kept me cool." Twork reported that he received lots of supportive waves from passing motorists, some of whom were no doubt surprised to see a bear in an orange A&W sweater and beret trudging along a highway outside of Green Bay.

To ensure his safety, family members followed Twork in a "chase vehicle" � a minivan with a banner on the back reading, "Slow Please. Bear Walking Ahead." Supporting Twork during his bearathon were his mother Mary Jean Getchell, stepfather Bob Getchell and sisters Nicole Twork and Michelle Rentmeister.

"We received a lot of interesting entries in our ‘What I'd do to get a Winking Bear Mug' online contest," said Steve Provost, Chief Marketing Officer for A&W All American Food. "We heard from people who wanted to have the A&W logo tattooed on body parts, and from folks who wanted to run in the nude to the local A&W to pick up a mug. But we didn't want to ruin our customers' appetites by having a ‘streaker' pick up a mug. Plus, Chris's idea was the most creative, and we loved the charity tie-in." As part of the bearathon, Twork offered to raise money for the American Red Cross, to aid hurricane victims. A&W Restaurants, Inc., made the first donation of $500, and even though pledges are still coming in, Twork's bearathon has already raised more than $1,000 for the cause.

When the bearathon was complete, Twork received a warm welcome from the employees and customers of the DePere A&W restaurant. And once he shook a few hands with his furry paw, he was presented with his Winking Bear mug filled with frosty A&W root beer for a victory toast.

Although 26 miles is a long way to walk in an oversized bear costume in order to get a root beer mug, Twork was thrilled with the outcome.

"It's a win for everyone involved. I had a blast, the people at A&W were great to work with, and we raised some money for a great cause," he said. "Plus, I ended up with one of the rare Winking Bear Mugs, and that's what I was after." Of the 100,000 A&W collector mugs produced for 2005, there are 984 in circulation that have a limited edition design: rather than having an image of a smiling Great Root Bear, these special mugs feature a winking Great Root Bear. The Winking Bear Mug is what inspired Twork to become a "bearathoner." A&W Restaurants inserted the 984 Winking Bear mugs randomly into cases of this year's collectible A&W mugs, and the cases were distributed to A&W restaurants across the country. There is no way of determining how many of the rare mugs have already been distributed, or where.

Twork was the winner of the "What I'd Do to Get a Winking Bear Mug" essay contest at www.winkingbear.com, and at the completion of his bearathon, he received a set of both 2005 collector mugs.

A&W also auctioned off several of the Winking Bear Mugs on eBay� to raise additional money for the Red Cross. Four of the mugs have been auctioned to date, raising a total of $641.99 for the Red Cross. Each of the mugs sold for more than $100, and the top bidder paid $229.49 to get one of the rare mugs! The A&W� brand was founded in 1919, and A&W� All American Food� is famous for serving a signature frosty mug root beer float and All American pure-beef hamburgers and hot dogs. There are more than 675 A&W� All American Food� outlets in 15 countries and territories around the world, and more than 600 additional points of distribution at Yum! Brands multibrand restaurants. A&W Restaurants, Inc. is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., Louisville, Ky.

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