Where: John Deere Pavilion, Moline, IL
Description: The Quad Cities Marathon, a USATF certified course and Boston Marathon qualifier, has been held annually in September. The event covers 5 races, 4 cities, 3 bridges, 2 states, and 1 Island, all along the mighty Mississippi River.The 26.2 mile run starts and ends in downtown Moline, IL.
If your a marathon veteran or a first time runner you’ll love the Quad Cities area. We are a race organized by friendly Midwest people who love to run. And we are the only place on the Mississippi were the river runs East and West.
Thank you to all the participants, sponsors, our fantastic crew of volunteers and race committee. Thanks to everyone coming together to make what we believe is the best marathon in the United States… Come Join Us!
Website: http://www.qcmarathon.org
Great local race. The route takes you through all 4 cities. Running across the river on the interstate bridge is cool. i missed the hot air balloons this year. Usually they had some of them along the course. Inflated but tethered down.
I only gave 3 stars for organization for a couple reasons. Reason #1 they only have 1 person (at least when I was there) checking your timing chip. This made the line fairly long to wait in. Reason #2 – I have run this race 3 years now and every time I always come across another runner on the course who is confused as to where the 1/2 and marathon splits. I do a lot of halves and it never happens on them.
Post race is great. The hot chili helped after the rain and you gotta like hot dogs and beer. Massage and chiropractic care is also available.
This was my first QC Marathon and I live right here in Davenport. I must say I was quite impressed with all the volunteers and pretty decent organization. The weather was great which helped a lot, The amount of runners was just about perfect, not too many like the Bix or not very few either. Anyway, I look forward already to doing it again next year and possibly doing the full marathon.
This was my first half marathon and I loved every minute of it! The course was great: scenic, well marked and the volunteers were the best. Who knew the I-74 bridge could bounce that much? I have this one on my race calendar for next year. Thanks for a great experience!