The River to River Relay is a long distance

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of Race track, racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in runni ...

in which teams of runners run from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

to the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, covering a distance of 80 miles.River to River Homepage
/ref> Over 2000 runners take part in the race every year. River to River is a race of friendly competition that experienced to novice runners enjoy running. The race takes place in the southern part of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

beginning near

Wolf Lake, Illinois Wolf Lake is an unincorporated community in Union County, Illinois, United States. The community is located on Illinois Route 3 between Aldridge to the north and Ware to the south. It is about east of the Mississippi River. The nearest incorpor ...

and ending in

Golconda, Illinois Golconda is a city in and the county seat of Pope County, Illinois, United States, located along the Ohio River. The population was 630 at the 2020 census. Most of the city is part of the Golconda Historic District. History The city is named af ...

. The River to River Relay, the first of which was organized in 1987 with Gordon Pitz as the Race Director, is held annually sometime in April to not coincide with Easter weekend. The race is run across the southern tip of Illinois. Runners form teams that race against each other in 9 major divisions. Registration is usually in October of each year and the race field has been known to fill up in as little as 5 minutes on registration day. After the race, massage tables are ready for runners to use, a band plays, food stands are set up, and awards are given out.

Course

The 80 mile course begins near Wolf Lake, IL, in La Rue Pine Hills, and ends in Golconda, IL. The course runs across the very southern tip of Illinois. The first leg of the race goes through the

Shawnee National Forest The Shawnee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, United States. Administered by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, it consists of approximately 280,000 acres (1,100 km²) ...

. The rest of the race is run on country roads and highways. The most difficult leg of the race is generally considered to be section 22.River to River (Illinois)
/ref> This leg of the race is covered by Runner 6. There are many places throughout the race where residents will cheer on runners as they pass by their homes. The race is operated by the River to River Runners Club of Southern Illinois. The current Race Director is Brad Dillard and there is an organizing committee plus over 200 volunteers that help throughout the course on race day. The volunteers perform numerous functions including staffing water stations set up, directing traffic, and monitoring exchanges.
/ref>

Logistics

Teams must submit applications to join the race in October. Though there are over 350 teams that will apply, only 250 are accepted into the race. This limit is imposed due to the logistics of the course. Each team must come up with a creative name by which to call themselves. Teams have until the week prior to the race to change any roster information.River to River infobook 2009 (PDF)
p. 1-32 Teams are seeded according to prospective times. These times are based on the sum of each member's 5k time. Faster teams start the race earlier. The first runners leave at 6:15 AM and there are starts every thirty minutes until 8:45 AM.
/ref> Teams are allowed to have only one vehicle with exceptions made for the fastest teams who may use two if they are worried about their runner making to the next exchange zone before the vehicle arrives due to traffic. The vehicle is used to transport the seven runners who are not currently running to the next exchange zone. There are 23 exchange zones. The runners must run with a baton. The baton must be passed to the next runner within the exchange zone. "The relay is the equivalent of three hard races in one day. Runners recover as best they can while other team members take a turn, encountering mud, hills, dust, hills, sweat, hills... They learn to welcome the cramped quarters of a vehicle occupied by seven other muddy, dusty, sweaty, tired people, and wonder why they were picked to tackle the terrible hill on section 22. The euphoria on reaching the finish line at the Ohio River, running in together as a team, resolves all the doubt." Though th

of the race are taken seriously, the race is meant to be for fun. Some teams run in costumes that match their team names. Vehicles cheer on runners as they pass them on their way to the next exchange zone. This is a race of friendly competition that is a great deal of fun.

Teams

Teams consist of eight runners. The runners must run in a fixed sequence. Each runner runs three legs of the race throughout the course of the day. For example, Runner 1 will run legs 1, 9, and 17. Each leg of the race is of differing difficulty and distance. If a runner is unable to run his or her leg, the team has two options: :1. The previous runner in sequence must continue running through the exchange and run the absent runner's leg. :2. The next runner in the sequence must take over the absent runner's leg and continue running through his or her leg. ''Team Divisions'' There are 9 majo

that each team can qualify for in order to receive an award a team must belong to a division.
/ref> There is friendly competition throughout the day within each division.

Post Race

After the grueling race, there are massage tables set up with therapists ready to work out any kinks acquired during the race. Blue grass music is provided outside of the Pope County Courthouse. Pope County High School offers showers for the runners to use after the race. There are also stands set up at the finish selling various types of food. After the finish line has closed, awards are presented. One award is given for every five teams with a maximum of three awards given per division. Awards are not substantial; each team member gets a plaque and the team captain receives a silver platter.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:River To River Relay Long-distance relay races