BIKEIOWA provides Course Support to Des Moines Marathon

Tue October 19 2004
Posted Oct 19, 2004
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This past weekend, October 17th, the 3rd annual Mediacom Des Moines Marathon and Half Marathon was held in downtown Des Moines. Each year BIKEIOWA provides Course Support via bicycles for the marathon. This year 40 cyclists joined togather on Sunday morning at 6:30 am in downtown Des Moines to support the full and the half Marthons. While the weather was chilly in the early morning hours, everyone was adorned in their awesome Reflective Course Support shirts were there to cheer the runners off the starting line. What is Course Support? Every cyclist is assigned a section of the race to ride. A section may consist of a lead, middle or end pack or a particular elite or handicapped runner. Each cyclist rides the entire course as they remain with a certain 'section' of the race as it progresses.

Each cyclist carries general first aid supplies, ensures crowd control, negotiates obstacles and aids the runners with any questions they may have. We have been told that the Des Moines marathon is unique to have such a large mobile Course Support Group. Walter, A course Supporter who also took some of the pictures had the unique opportunity to provide support for the Lead males in the full marathon. He clocked them at 11 mile per hour...! 26.2 miles at 11 mph !?! Yikes! THANKS to everyone who helped over the course of the weekend!! View more Pictures