Bix with a twist: Floods, economy, strange ending make race unique

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By Sheena Dooley | Saturday, July 26, 2008 |

From left, Dereje Todesse of Ethiopia, Abel Kirui and Edward Muge, both of Kenya, lead near the 4-mile mark during Saturday’s Quad-City Times Bix 7. Muge finished first in the men’s race, with a time of 32 minutes, 16 seconds. (Andrew Link/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

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Brendan and Elisabeth Schreiber have made the three-hour trek from Chicago to Davenport for the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race for the last six years. It’s the one thing the couple can count on doing every summer.

Usually, the Schreibers take the trip solo. But this year, $4-a-gallon gas prices convinced them to carpool for the first time. In all, 11 people packed into three cars. And they weren’t the only ones. Many out-of-towners said the high gas prices prompted them to share cars while it likely kept others away altogether.

Race organizers had been prepared for a dip in registrations and attendance for this year’s race because of the economic crunch, paired with the devastating floods in Iowa and throughout the Midwest in June.

Final registrations showed a drop for the main race of about 1,300 from the previous year to 13,711. Friday’s Alcoa Jr. Bix registrations dropped by more than 400 to 3,084.

Still, race director Ed Froehlich seemed relieved with the final turnout, considering 88 percent of the race’s runners come from Illinois and Iowa. He said there was a particularly noticeable drop in registrants from Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, which were hard hit by the flooding.

“We knew about six weeks ago it (attendance) would be low,’’ Froehlich said. “We are tickled we got as many as we did with the year Iowa has had.”

Froehlich had previously announced that half of total registration fees for all runners above 15,000 would go to the Unsinkable Spirit Flood Relief Fund, which was established to raise money for local victims of the flood.

Perfect weather

It seemed only fitting that Saturday’s race weather couldn’t have been better.

Temperatures hovered slightly above 70 degrees with a dew point in the middle 60s and a slight breeze, providing the perfect conditions for Edward Muge and Edith Masai, both Kenyan runners who took first place in the men’s and women’s races, respectively.

Masai, who at age 41 is the oldest woman to win the race since 1989, completed the race in 37 minutes, 20 seconds. Muge, 25, crossed the finish line with a time of 32:16, after Ethiopia’s Maregu Zewdie, who was in position to win the 34th annual race, pulled up short of the finish line thinking he had already won. Once Muge zipped by him and he realized his mistake, Zewdie managed to finish second in 32:25.

Ben Houtekier, the Moline firefighter who received a two-mile head start as the race’s designated jackpot runner, was passed on the trip down the Brady Street hill and finished behind 13 of the international runners with a time of 34:25. Even though he didn’t win the race, Rhythm City Casino announced it would still donate $3,400 to the Robert Juarez Relief Fund.

The fund was set up after Juarez fell 20 feet from a ladder June 12 while fighting a fire at the Trissel, Graham and Toole Insurance Co. warehouse on River Drive. The fall paralayzed Juarez from the waist down.

Fewer medical problems were reported than last year, according to Craig Cooper, spokesman for Genesis Medical Center, Davenport. Workers in the Genesis emergency medical tent treated 77 people, compared to more than 100 in 2007. Most of those treated this year suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration, Cooper said.

Three people were taken to the hospital.

Several runners had core body temperatures of 107 and 108 degrees before they were rehydrated and cooled down by the medical-tent volunteers, said Mary Clarke, the nurse in charge of Genesis’ medical tent.

“We carried more runners off (the course at the finish line) than we have in the past,” Clarke said. “It’s pretty nice out, so they were pushing it.”

All 50 states were represented in this year’s race, as well as countries including Russia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Romania and Japan. The draw of the Bix is something that surprised first-time participant David Evans, a Milwaukee resident who said he couldn’t believe the “sheer quantity of people.”

He was also entertained by the runners who “dressed up” for the occasion. Some were usuals, such as the three Elvises and the Palmer College of Chiropractic spine. Others included a Santa Claus, Tinky Winky from the Teletubbies, characters from Batman and an Oscar Mayer hotdog.

Another Bix first-timer, Stacey McNamar, found the hill to be the hardest part of the Quick Bix, which she completed on one leg. McNamar, 36, had cancer at age 14 that resulted in her left leg being amputated. Even though she was on crutches, family members said people with both legs had trouble keeping up with her.

For long-time Quad-City residents who have attended the race for years, the attention it gets, people it draws and the costumes are nothing new. They say the race is something that gives them a chance to come together as a community and show their support.

“The Bix is unique because of the total community support for it,” said Gary Weinstein, who had watched the first Bix race in 1975 from the Interstate Book Store on Brady Street that his family used to own. “It started as such a small project and has grown to such huge proportions. It attracts more and more top runners, but you don’t have to be a top runner to enjoy the day.”

Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.