The City of Jefferson will welcome some 2,500 runners for the 4th Annual Market-to-Market Relay Iowa event this Saturday.

Jefferson Mayor Craig Berry says over 350 teams will be represented at the starting point by the Mahanay Bell Tower in Jefferson. The 75-mile race along the Raccoon River Valley Trail will end east of the Court Avenue Bridge in Des Moines. The first wave of runners will be at 5:30am and the last group will start at 9:30am, with other waves of runners going every 20-minutes. Berry points out that it’s great to have this kind of exposure for Jefferson every year.

“I heard comments, a lot of comments, last year about how nice the town looked. And it was from people who were under 40 (years-old) so that was good.”

He adds that the local bicycling club is the sponsor for the starting point this year.

“The Cyclists of Greene, the bike club, does the starting points here (in Jefferson). I (also) wanted to point out that they have costume competitions for all the age groups and stuff that come up, the team groups. And there are some really interesting costumes that show up.”

Berry notes that Lincoln Way will be closed between Wilson Avenue to Locust Street from 4am to 10am Saturday morning.

There are also volunteers at each of the 17 exchange zones along the route and at all of the road crossings with the trail. Since the event began in 2013, $44,000 has been received by the non-profit organizations that have helped work the event.

Everyone is encouraged to come to the square in Jefferson to help cheer on the participants in the Market-to-Market Relay.