We are less than two days away from the start of the second annual Iowa Market-to-Market Relay.

Over 2100 participants will run a 75-mile course along the Raccoon River Valley Trail from downtown Jefferson to downtown Des Moines.  Each of the 300 teams includes six to eight people which will run in waves beginning at 5:40am on Lincoln Way on the south side of the downtown square in Jefferson.  The last wave is scheduled to start at 9:30am.

Race director and co-creator Ben Cohoon says he’s very impressed with how well the City of Jefferson was to work with as the starting point for a second year for the race.

“I think it’s that mix of a cool area to start and then just kind of a quaint, small town that people are really excited to start there.  So as an organization, we’re really excited about the opportunity to start there and how willing the town was to work with us.”

From Jefferson, teams will head to Bull Head Farm in Jefferson and then to Cooper in Greene County.  Other notable towns that the race will go through are Herndon, Yale, Panora, Redfield, Adel and Waukee and will end at el Bait Shop in Des Moines.

The race is expected to last from 8-12 hours on Saturday, May 10th and Cohoon adds that unique awards will be given to teams for best costume, best decorated vehicle, best team name and closest to your predicted finishing time for your team.