BIX entries won’t be capped this year

Wed April 09 2008
Posted Apr 9, 2008
5,600

By Don Doxsie Ed Froehlich has thrown out the limitations and thrown down the gauntlet. He has eliminated quotas and issued a challenge to physical fitness aficionados across the state of Iowa. Froehlich, the race director of the Quad-City Times Bix 7 for nearly three decades, announced that the 34th annual race through the streets of Davenport, scheduled for July 26, will no longer have a limit on how many runners and walkers can enter the event. The race was capped at 15,000 entries last year because of uncertainty over how a new chip timing system would work. “But everybody loved the chip,’’ Froehlich said at the Bix 7’s annual kickoff event Wednesday at the Isle of Capri. “So this year we’re not going to have any limit.’’ Froehlich also said that he hopes fitness-minded people who formerly had to choose between the Bix 7 and RAGBRAI, a weeklong bicycle trek across Iowa, will find a new option this year: Do both. The two events have always culminated on the same day, but this year he thinks it’s actually possible to partake of both races. The seventh and final stage of the 471-mile RAGBRAI is a 53-mile trek from Tipton to LeClaire, where bikers will ceremoniously dip their tires into the Mississippi River. “Over the years we’ve heard about a lot of bikers who quit RAGBRAI a day early to come and run the Bix,’’ Froehlich said. “This year they should be able to run the Bix, then go back to Tipton and finish the bike race.’’ T.J. Juskiewicz, the director of RAGBRAI, isn’t sure how many people will attempt to do both events. However, he admitted it never has been more plausible. RAGBRAI seldom finishes this close to the Quad-Cities. “There’s no doubt that if you’re going to do it, this is the year,’’ he said. “To do it when we finish up in Guttenberg or somewhere down south, it would be impossible.’’ It’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it. “It probably is going to be more difficult logistically than physically,’’ Juskiewicz said. “Physically, to run seven miles and ride 53 miles in the same day … if you are a duathlete, you could do it. The physical part of it shouldn’t be that overwhelming. The logistics might be tough.’’ The RAGBRAI route opens at 6 a.m. but riders who run the 8 a.m. Bix couldn’t possibly be on their bikes back in Tipton before 10 a.m. Juskiewicz said they probably need to be in LeClaire by 2 or 3 p.m. “We start shutting down towns when we think all the riders should be through them,’’ he said. He said riders would not be able to stop and visit the towns as much as they normally do on RAGBRAI. But if they just pedal away with a minimum of sightseeing, it’s doable. Don Doxsie can be contacted at (563) 383-2280 or ddoxsie@qctimes.com. Other Bix 7 news - Race director Ed Froehlich said there will only be four Bix at Six trainings runs this year instead of six. The first one is June 12 and the last one July 3. He said it has become tougher each year to find enough volunteers to man the Thursday night sessions, especially with the John Deere Classic taking place only two weeks before the Bix 7. - The Bix 7 has three new contributing sponsors this year. The Scott County Regional Authority and Isle of Capri will sponsor the All City Challenge and Cardiovascular Medicine will sponsor the appearances of Bix legends Bill Rodgers and Joan Samuelson. - Runners and walkers will be able to customize their own Bix apparel online through a company called VictoryStore.com. The company can be accessed through Bix7Store.com.