Ragnar Great River
posted July 13, 2016 7:14 AM RSS | iCal | +googleCal
Fri August 12 at 5:00 AM, Ragnar Great River Course
351 E River Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN, USA (Map & Directions)
Is anyone else running, volunteering, driving, or watching the Ragnar Great River relay?
Since this race is 200 miles long there isn't an obvious, specific meetup place. I used the start time but the finish location for the post, but my thought was if other MeFites will be out there I'd like to cheer you on and say 'Hi' along the way. If we happen to end up at a major exchange, the start, or the finish at the same time we could connect.
This is kind of an odd IRL event, but if you're going to be out there and are ok with it, post your team number or volunteer station and I'll keep an eye out for you on the course. We could also share info via MeFi Mail or email if privacy is a concern.
For those who don't know what this is: The Ragnar Relay series races are relays that are generally about 200 miles long and teams are made of 6 or 12 people. The race takes place over 2 days. Here is the page for the Great River race which goes from Winona, MN to Minneapolis, MN via Wisconsin and basically follows the Mississippi river. This will be my third year running Great River and I've also volunteered and driven for Ultra teams in the past.
This is kind of an odd IRL event, but if you're going to be out there and are ok with it, post your team number or volunteer station and I'll keep an eye out for you on the course. We could also share info via MeFi Mail or email if privacy is a concern.
For those who don't know what this is: The Ragnar Relay series races are relays that are generally about 200 miles long and teams are made of 6 or 12 people. The race takes place over 2 days. Here is the page for the Great River race which goes from Winona, MN to Minneapolis, MN via Wisconsin and basically follows the Mississippi river. This will be my third year running Great River and I've also volunteered and driven for Ultra teams in the past.
If you're on the very end of the course people will start coming in early Saturday morning. There will be a steady stream of people until mid afternoon. I'd say 10AM-Noon is about the best bet. It's also very neat down at the River Flats Park where the finish line is. There's music and people are announced as they come in. One thing I like about Ragnar is that entire teams finish together. The last runner (me this year in fact) does the entire last leg and then the rest of the team joins in for the last 100 or so yards and crosses together. Most teams have matching shirts or costumes. Very few people are actually racing against each other. Most people are just racing against themselves and the whole 'race' is a sort of giant sweaty group hug with thousands of people. I'm overweight and slow and everybody I see out there (many of them passing me by) is genuinely cheering me on. It really does make me feel like Batman when I can do better than last year and really just finishing it standing up feels good. People cheering on the route are a big part of that. The course goes through a bunch of tiny towns in WI along the way and in some the whole town comes out to cheer and watch. People wave flags and ring cowbells, girl scouts sell muffins, etc. Just very nifty.
It's pretty fun to watch and it's obvious where to be to not get in the way. The finish area is all wide open so there's no admission or credentials or anything needed there either. There's beer and pizza and such too.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:00 PM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's pretty fun to watch and it's obvious where to be to not get in the way. The finish area is all wide open so there's no admission or credentials or anything needed there either. There's beer and pizza and such too.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:00 PM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by holmesian at 2:23 PM on July 16, 2016