Quad-City Times Bix 7

The Quad-City Times Bix 7 is a fiercely competitive 7-mile road race held every summer through the streets of Davenport, Iowa, on the Mississippi River. Founded in 1975 by Bettendorf resident John Hudetz after he ran the 1974 Boston Marathon, the race takes its name from Davenport-born jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and has grown into the largest non-marathon road race in the Midwest, drawing roughly 12,000 to 18,000 runners and walkers each year. The Quad-City Times has served as title sponsor for decades, and the name has stayed unchanged through the race's rise to national prominence. Run on the last Saturday of July, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 opens with an immediate test: Brady Street Hill, a 7-9% grade climb right from the starting line at Brady & 4th Street. The rolling, entirely residential course continues along Kirkwood Boulevard before a steep drop and a second climb on McClellan Boulevard, and finishes along the riverfront on 3rd Street near Iowa Street. Combined with Iowa's notoriously hot, humid late-July mornings, the course has been called the most demanding of any major American road race by Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers, and it has drawn a who's who of distance-running legends over the decades, including Rodgers himself, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Frank Shorter, and Meb Keflezighi. More than 40 professional athletes compete each year for over $65,000 in prize money. The Quad-City Times Bix 7 anchors a full week of Bix-branded events, including the Prairie Farms Quick Bix 2-mile, the Jr. Bix for kids, the Bechtel Trusts Senior Bix, and the MercyOne Genesis Brady Street Sprints. Race weekend culminates in one of the Midwest's biggest post-race parties, with live music and thousands of spectators lining the riverfront finish.