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1976

The second Bix 7 road race drew 114 entries but ended up being a battle between two Augustana College runners – John O’Connor of Rock Island and Dan Copper of Mendota, IL. Copper beat O’Connor by just four seconds, finishing in 36:47, while Kim Merritt of Racine, WI, won the women’s phase for the second consecutive year in 41:33.

It was the first Bix race for Copper, a track and cross country All-American at Augustana. He had been hampered by foot injuries before the race but said he felt strong after five miles.

Top Ten Finishers:

1977

Kevin McDonald captured the Bix 7, topping a field of 350 runners in what was without question the most under publicized chapter in the race’s 17 year history.

The late Gregg Newell of Davenport recorded the first of three straight top-two finishes as he followed McDonald across the finish line 15 seconds later.

Lynn Schmidt won the women’s phase by a wide margin.

The only media coverage the race received was a four paragraph story and some agate results on the sixth page of the Quad-City Times sports section.

Top Ten Finishers:

1978

The Bix 7 continued its steady growth, drawing a field of 500 runners. That prompted race director Tony Gott to make a somewhat shortsighted prediction. “The race,” Gott reported, “has outgrown the city.”

John Lodwick of Cedar Rapids, who took eighth in the Boston Marathon that year, won the fourth annual Bix in a time of 34:56. Former Davenport Central and University of Iowa runner Gregg Newell was second for the second straight year. Kathy Loper of Worthsmith, MN, who later became a Quad-City resident, was the women’s winner in 45:38.

Top Ten Finishers:

1979

After two consecutive second place finishes, Gregg Newell found the winner’s circle in the ’79 Bix 7. Newell, a former Davenport Central and University of Iowa runner won in a time of 35:40, almost a minute ahead of Dave Kohrs of Lake Charles, LA, Bettendorf’s John Wellerding, and ’76 Bix champion Don Copper. For Wellerding, it was the first of nine top-10 finishes at Bix.

Ilene Kimsey of Des Moines, a competitive runner for less than a year, won the women’s phase in 46:25. It was the slowest winning time.

A field of 800 runners turned out in the torturous heat and humidity.

Top Ten Finishers:

1980

The United States’ boycott of the Olympics prevented Bill Rodgers from running in Moscow. Instead, he came to Davenport.

Rodgers, then ranked as the top distance runner in the world, cruised to the championship of the Bix 7 in a record time of 33:58 on a rainy, overcast day. It was the first of two Bix championships for Rodgers, who has run in the race every year since. John Wellerding of Bettendorf was a distant second in 35:12. Paul Raether of Rochester, MN led for the first three miles but finished fourth.

Peggy Schott won the women’s title and a record 1,500 runners took part.

Top Ten Finishers:

1981

Bill Rodgers had some stronger competition but the Boston area native still won the Bix 7 for the second time. Rodgers posted a record time of 33:26 to defeat longtime rival Frank Shorter by 24 seconds. Shorter, the 1976 Olympic marathon gold medalist, had beaten Rodgers by nine seconds in a race a few weeks before. Frank Richardson of Ames finished third.

Beverly Roland-Miller, a former Western Illinois University runner, won the women’s competition in a time of 41:26.

The race, sponsored for the first time by the Quad-City Times, drew 2,500 entrants in muggy, overcast conditions.

Top Ten Finishers:

1982

The ’82 Bix 7 will always be remembered for the shortcut. Australian superman Rob De Castella won the race in the record time of 32:21 after cutting the course short by about 50 yards. He and the rest of the leaders followed the lead vehicle as it made a shortcut at the McClellan Boulevard turnaround and almost all of the 4,100 trailing runners did the same. Since de Castella’s time is 33 seconds better than the previous Bix record, he certainly would have set the course record even without the shortcut.

Bill Rodgers, running his third Bix, finished second in 32:45 with Frank Shorter third in 33:35. Both had better times than when they finished 1-2 the previous year. Ellen Hart beat the women’s record by more than two minutes, covering the course in 38:42.

Top Ten Finishers:

1983

Kenya’s Joseph Nzau, a resident of Laramie, WY, continued the international dominance as he coasted to victory in a time of 33:10. Cummings faded to third while Bix veteran Bill Rodgers finished second. The race, with a field of 5,620 runners, was run in oppressive heat and humidity.

Joan Benoit, who shattered the women’s course record, covered the distance in 37:26. Benoit, was a year away from an Olympic gold medal.

Top Ten Finishers:

1984

South Africa’s Ashley Johnson turned it on down the stretch to win one of the most exciting Bix finishes ever. Johnson, the third foreigner to win in as many years, made the final turn onto Fourth Street virtually side-by-side with ’83 champion Joseph Nzau and Mark Curp. Johnson won the closing sprint finishing in 33:02. Nzau ran 33:04 and Curp 33:06. Richard Kaitany, a Kenya native who attended Iowa State, was fourth with 19-year-old Paul Gompers fifth.

Kellie Cathey, who finished second a year earlier, won the women’s race in 38:04. The field continued to grow, reaching 6,750 runners.

Top Ten Finishers:

1985

In 1985, Bill Rodgers was ready to return to his place as a perennial Bix contender. The 37-year-old Rodgers ran his best non-shortcut Bix time ever (32:56) as he pushed younger, stronger Mark Curp all the way before finishing second for the third time in four years. Curp, whose time of 32:54 was then the best ever for the full course, won the race after taking third and fourth the previous two years.

A field of 7,174 turned out for the race, which also featured the triumphant return of Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson. Samuelson finished more than a minute ahead of the second fastest female entry.

Top Ten Finishers:

1986

A new face was added to the array of world-class runners for the ’86 Bix 7. Geoff Smith’s lack of familiarity with the rugged, up-and-down course didn’t hurt him a bit. Smith, a member of Great Britain’s Olympic team, raced to a three-second win over a more familiar face, Mark Curp.

Smith’s winning time of 33:16 was a reflection of the weather conditions. It was the slowest winning time in five years.

Joan Benoit Samuelson again cruised to victory in the women’s phase as the race continued its phenomenal growth of 9, 325 runners.

Top Ten Finishers:

1987

Joseph Nzau became the champion of champions and the number of runners continued its incredible growth in the ’87 Bix. A total of 12,375 competitors ran the race, an increase of 3,000. It made the Bix one of the largest races in the country for 1987.

Nzau, a native of Kenya, was the first of the throng to cross the finish line as he prevailed over a field loaded with world-class talent. Every Bix men’s champion of the 1980’s was entered including Bill Rodgers, Rob de Castella, Ashley Johnson, Mark Curp, Geoff Smith, as well as Joseph Nzau.

Francie Larrieu Smith was the women’s winner in a time of 38:10.

Top Ten Finishers:

1988

Mark Curp joined Bill Rodgers and Joseph Nzau as the only two-time winners. Curp, rolled to a 42-second victory over Bill Reifsnyder, who was making by Bix debut. Rodgers won the masters division.

Samuelson, meanwhile, was supposed to be an also-ran in a women’s field which included defending champion Francie Larrieu Smith, Brenda Webb, Cyndie Welte and Priscilla Welch. She surprised observers by beating second-place Webb by 46 seconds for her fourth Bix title in six years.

A total of 12,425 runners and walkers took part in the race.

Top Ten Finishers:

1989

A new downhill finish, the incentive of prize money, and near-perfect weather conditions added up to the fastest Bix 7 ever. The race, which attracted 15,639 entries, was run in near perfect conditions.

Marc Nenow sprinted to victory in a record time of 32:17. Eight different runners cracked the 33-minute mark, a feat which had been done just four times in the first 14 years of the race.

Erin Baker, a veteran triathlete, notched the first distance running victory of her career by registering a women’s record time of 36:35. The top four women recorded the four fastest women’s times in Bix history.

Top Ten Finishers:

1990

Steve Kogo showed up for the 1990 Bix 7 with no driver’s license and little fanfare. By the time the day was over, Kogo owned a new car, $5,000, and a place in Bix history. The Kenya native rolled through a field of more famous runners to win in 32:47. John Campbell, a 41-year-old New Zealander, lopped more than a minute off the men’s masters record and finished fifth overall.

On the women’s side, Maria Trujillo claimed the victory despite running only the 11th best time in Bix annuals (37:58).

A record field of 16,521 turned out for the race, which featured new start and finish lines.

Top Ten Finishers:

1991

Ken Martin pulled away from defending champion Steve Kogo and Alejandro Cruz in the final 500 yards to claim a surprising victory in the third closest race in Bix history.

Martin took advantage of cool dry conditions to match the second fastest Bix time ever, 32:21, beating Kogo by two seconds and Cruz by five.

Germany’s Uta Pippig easily won the women’s division, crossing the finish line 25 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Dorthe Rasmussen.

The race continued to grow, drawing 18,124 entries.

Top Ten Finishers:

1992

Pre-race prediction turned out to all wet as Mexico’s Alejandro Cruz sloshed to victory in the wettest and wildest Bix ever. His winning time of 32:21 was four seconds off the course record. Scott Fry was the top American with a seventh-place finish.

Great Britain’s Nick Rose was a surprise winner in the most competitive men’s masters field ever but the women’s race went as expected with Olga Markova winning the open division and Barb Filutze of Erie, PA winning the master phase.

A downpour began at 8 a.m. for the record field of 18,246.

Top Ten Finishers:

1993

Thomas Osano claimed his third championship in less than a month, running a slightly altered Bix 7 course in the record time of 32:10. Uta Pippig won the women’s race in 36:27. Osana pulled away from fellow Kenyans with more than one mile left. Pippig won by five seconds over second-place Anne Marie Letko.

Record floods left part of the course under water, but race officials changed the route by having runners turn left instead of right at the bottom of Brady hill.

Top Ten Finishers:

1994

Benson Masya became the first runner to run the Bix course in less than 32 minutes as he finished in 31:56. Lazarus Nyakeraka, Osano’s 18 year old nephew, finished second. Tegla Loroupe put her stamp on the women’s record books by running the course in 36:02. Kenyan runners dominated the race with seven of the top eleven finishers. Former Clinton resident, Jeff Jacobs, was the top American finishing 12th.

A total of 20,097 competed in the 20th annual race.

Top Ten Finishers:

1995

Phillimon Hanneck of Zimbabwe passed Simon Morolong 200 meters from the finish line to win with a time of 32:08, which was the second best ever. The defeat was one of the closest finishes in Bix history.

Anne Hare won the women’s race. Olga Appell was on a record pace but she was forced to withdraw near the six-mile mark and was hospitalized for heat exhaustion.

Dan Held won the first-place American prize money and Gary Henry won the men’s master’s. A field of 18,354, second largest ever, competed in the race.

Top Ten Finishers:

1996

Peter Githuka and Hellen Kimaiyo were able to overcome strong fields and high humidity to win their first Bix titles. Githuka took over in the sixth mile and finished in 32:05, the second fastest time in Bix race history. Kimaiyo ran the third-fastest time with 36:18 defeating Catherine Ndereba by 10 seconds.

Former Clinton High School prep Jeff Jacobs was the top American finisher in 11th.

Even with the Olympics being help at the same time in Atlanta, the Bix 7 drew strong fields.

Top Ten Finishers:

1997

Morocco’s Khalid Khannouchi, a relative unknown before winning 11 races in ’97, prevailed over a field loaded with elite runners to win a world championship and $25,000 in the hottest Bix 7 ever. Khannouchi ran a careful, tactical race and ended up winning by 15 seconds with a time of 32:54. It was the slowest winning time since 1988.

Colleen DeReuck of South Africa also took home $25,000 as winner of the women’s race, defeating defending champion Hellen Kimaiyo by 18 seconds.

Top Ten Finishers:

1998

The race drew the most entries ever – 22,143 – including 5,000 who competed in the inaugural Jr. Bix 7 on Friday night. It was the coolest at 62 degrees. It resulted in the fastest time ever as both John Korir and Mark Yatich broke the four-year-old record. Korir’s last second lean earned him the $10,000 first prize with a time of 31:51.99.

Mike Myktok of Ramsey, NJ became the first American male in five years to finish in the top ten with a tenth place finish.

Colleen DeReuck repeated as the women’s champion at 36:38.

Top Ten Finishers:

1999

Korir ran the course 68 seconds slower than in previous years, but he still managed to become only the second man ever to win the race in consecutive years with a time of 32:59.

Rod DeHaven of Madison, WI, came in eighth, the highest finish by a native-born American since 1992. Catherine Ndereba prevented Colleen DeReuck from becoming the first runner to win the Bix 7 three years in a row.

The race featured the Quick Bix 2-mile run/walk with 20,117 entries and 3,065 for the Jr. Bix.

Top Ten Finishers:

2000

Mark Yatich, who lost in the closest finish ever two years earlier, prevailed in another close duel with Lazarus Nyakeraka and Reuben Cheruiyot. Yatich ran the course 39 seconds slower than in ’98 when he lost to John Korir by one-hundredth of a second.

DeReuck won the women’s race for the third time, becoming the only runner other than Joan Benoit Samuelson to notch more than two Bix victories.

The race attracted 15,001 entries for the main race and another 3,512 for the 3rd annual Jr. Bix 7.

Top Ten Finishers:

2001

Kenya’s John Korir made Bix 7 history by winning the race for the third time in four years, becoming the first male runner ever to win the event three times with a time of 32:24.

Catherine Ndereba won the women’s race for the second time in three years. Sylvia Mosqueda of Los Angeles took seventh, becoming the only American to win prize money.

The total number of entries was up to 18,958. The event also included the inaugural Brady Street Sprint, a quarter-mile uphill dash.

Top Ten Finishers:

2002

Colleen DeReuck and Meb Keflezighi both cruised to lopsided victories in a special USA Track and Field American National Championship race. Keflezighi won by the third-largest margin in history – 52 seconds, slapping hands with runners and spectators. DeReuck won with less exuberance but with similar ease – 41 seconds. It was DeReuck’s fourth Bix 7 title in the past six years, tying the record held by Joan Beniot Samuelson.

A field of 19,558 turned out for the race plus 3,500 for Jr. Bix.

Top Ten Finishers:

2003

The 29th running of the Bix 7 featured 19,854 runners and walkers, the fourth highest total. Kenyan veterans John Korir and Catherine Ndereba both came from behind to repeat the odd-numbered year championships they won in 1999 and 2001.

It was Korir’s fourth Bix 7 title, matching the record total of victories by female runners Joan Benoit Samuelson and Colleen DeReuck. This time he won by only two seconds.

Ndereba’s four-second victory over Romanina Luminita Talpos was the closest women’s finish since 1995.

Top Ten Finishers:

2004

It was only 61 degrees when the runners took their first steps up Brady Street Hill, and that helped both women’s champion Susan Chepkemei and runner-up Constantina Tomescu-Dita break the 10-year-old course record for female runners.

Korir didn’t come close to breaking his own course record, but it wasn’t necessary. He won by 16 seconds over Linus Maiyo.

Korir also managed to pass Tim Delf of Blue Grass, Iowa, in the final 200 yards to keep Delf from winning the Rhythm City Casino Race for the Jackpot. Delf was given a 2.4 mile head start to see if he could beat the first-place finisher and win $3,000, but his gallant effort fell short.

Top Ten Finishers:

2005

Gilbert Okari won by 25 seconds over John Korir although his time of 32:24 was nowhere near Korir’s course record. Nuta Olura won by 31 seconds over Sally Barsosio and Catherine Ndereba.

Janelle Swanberg was given a 2.4 mile head start and beat Okari to the finish line by 43 seconds. She donated $3,100 to H.E.L.P along with another $14,000 from local attorneys and the Riverboat
Development Authority.

A total of 20,211 runners and walkers participated.

Top Ten Finishers:

2006

The race was held amid some of the most severe conditions ever – 70 degrees at race time with 85 percent humidity, but the weather barely seemed to bother Lawrence Kiprotich and Susan Chepkemei, a pair of Kenya natives who held off fellow Kenyans to win.

The conditions did bother Dave Ramp, a 40-year-old Hampton, IL, resident. He went to the medical tent, but only after he crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of Kiprotich to win the third Rhythm City Casino Jackpot race. He gave his $3,200 prize to his ailing 10-year-old niece.

Top Ten Finishers:

2007

Kenya’s Duncan Kibet and Ethiopia’s Wude Ayalew both raced to victory in their first visits to the Quad-Cities, perpetuating one long-standing Bix tradition: It marked the 12th time in 15 years that both the men’s and women’s champions were native of the continent of Africa.

20-year-old Ayalew became the first Bix 7 champion from Ethiopia winning by 20 seconds. Kibet won by five seconds.

Davenport’s Christy Lazaridis used a 2.7 mile head start to win the fourth annual Rhythm City Casino Race for the Jackpot.

Top Ten Finishers:

2008

Kenya’s Edward Muge won the race only because leader Maregu Zewdie of Ethiopia pulled up prematurely a few hundred yards from the finish line. As Zewdie crossed under the skywalk in front of the Davenport RiverCenter, he made a slash sign across his throat and stopped, thinking he had won. Muge blew past and crossed the finish line 9 seconds ahead of him.

Edith Masai managed to hold off another Kenya, Angelina Mutuku, to win the women’s race by 1 second. Masai, 41, became the first person older than 40 to win the race.

Ben Houtekier did not with the Jackpot money, but the Rhythm City Casino gave the money to benefit Davenport fireman, Bob Juarez.

Top Ten Finishers:

2009

Meb Keflezighi’s winning margin of 31 seconds was the largest since his 52-second Bix 7 win in 2002. His winning time of 32:25 is the third-best by an American at Bix. Marc Nenow (1989) and Ken Martin (1991) did it faster.

In the women’s race, Molly Huddle crossed the finish line in 37:37 becoming the first American woman to win at Bix since Colleen De Reuck in 2002 and the first American-born woman to claim a Bix 7 title since Joan Samuelson in 1988 — the 2009 Bix women’s masters champion.

Jackpot runner Ben Lloyd won $3,500 by finishing in 32:17.

Top Ten Finishers:

2010

Marathon standout Ryan Hall pulled away from the field in the final two miles to win in his first visit to the Bix 7 and former Iowa State national champion Lisa Koll made her road racing debut a memorable one by winning the women’s championship.

The race again served as the USA Track and Field national championship race for seven miles and with defending champion Meb Keflezighi injured, Hall was the olds-on favorite. He didn’t disappoint, overtaking early leader Antonio Vega at about the five-mile mark and winning easily. He became the first native-born American male in 19 years to win the Bix 7.

Top Ten Finishers:

2011

Silas Kipruto slipped into the lead just before the halfway mark of the race, then thoroughly dominated the second half on his way to an 11-second victory over a pack of fellow Kenyans. He said the terrain kind of reminded him of back home in Kenya and the weather was more of an obstacle than the course.

Caroline Rotich dominated the women’s field by taking the lead before the midpoint of the race and crossing the finish line 1 minute, 4 seconds in from of runner-up Jelliah Tinega. Her margin of victory was the greatest in the Bix 7 women’s race in 33 years and the fifth largest in the history of the race.

Top Ten Finishers:

2012

Silas Kipruto became only the third male runner to win the Bix 7 in back to back years, joining Bill Rodgers and John Korir. Kipruto finished in 32 minutes 31 seconds.

Kenya’s Margaret Muriuki was the women’s winner, beating out defending champion Caroline Rotich by only .25 seconds, with a time of 36:17.

Bob Madison came up short in his effort to win the Rhythm City Jackpot, but the casino still donated $2,500 to Haiti relief on Madison’s behalf.

Top Ten Finishers:

2013

Leonard Korir (no relation to John Korir who has won the race five times) masterminded a victory in the coolest Bix 7 ever. Leonard Korir finished in 32 minutes and 15 seconds, 4 seconds faster than Silas Kipruto.

Sule Utura of Ethiopia was the women’s winner with a winning time of 36 minutes and 34 seconds. Ultra sprinted past fellow Ethiopian in the final mile to claim the Bix 7 title and a five-second victory.

Brock DeToye won the Rhythm City Jackpot in 31:35, 39 seconds ahead of Men’s Champion Leonard Korir. He doesn’t have a plan for his prize money at this time.

Top Ten Finishers:

2014

Sean Quigley pulled away from Christo Landry in the final few hundred meters to win the U.S. men’s 7-mile championship in 33:28 minutes, and Molly Huddle ran the fastest Bix 7 ever by an American woman (36 minutes, 13 seconds) to claim the women’s championship.

Kathy Schmitt finished 1st in 31 minutes, ahead of the elite winner Sean Quigley, taking home the River City Jackpot of $2,500.

Top Ten Finishers:

2015

Kenya’s Leonard Korir won the men’s race for the second time in three years, hanging far back in the pack before out-kicking Micah Kogo, Solomon Deksisa, and Yitayal Atanfu in the final stretch with a time of 33:06 minutes. Korir ran the final mile in 4minutes, 10 seconds.

Cynthia Limo of Kenya prevailed in one of the closest women’s races in the event’s history with a time of 36:57. The top five women finished within 18 seconds of one another.

What appeared to certain victory for “Beat the Elite” runner Travis Allen, when he collapsed near the finish line and was unable to finish.

Top Ten Finishers:

2016

Silas Kipruto achieved a controversial victory in the men’s race. Kipruto, who won the Bix 7 for the 3rd time, took a swipe at Ethiopia’s Teshome Mekonen, who he felt was following him too closely during the race. A formal protest by Mekonen was denied after officials determined Kipruto did not do anything “flagrant.”

Kenya’s Mary Keitany set a new course record winning the women’s championship. Keitany’s time of 35:18, was six seconds better than the 2004 mark set by Susan Chepkemei. Kenya’s Caroline Chepkoech also broke the previous record by finishing second in 35:20.

“Beat the Elite” runners Mark Rodgers (corporate) finished 2 min. and 16 seconds and Nancy Van Hemert finished 1 min. and 29 seconds ahead of elite winner Silas Kipruto. Both runners donating their prize money to charity.

Top Ten Finishers:

2017

Sam Chelanga broke away from the pack at the 5 mile mark, sprinting away to claim an easy victory. His winning time was 32 minutes and 53 seconds.

Aliphine Tuliamuk, the 28-year-old from Santa Fe, New Mexico, had a dominating performance, completing the seven mile course in 36 minutes and 30 seconds to finish 1:04 in front of Marielle Hall.

“Beat the Elite” runner Joy Ripslinger finished in 31 minutes and 6 seconds ahead of the Elite winner Sam Chelanga. Donating the prize money to the Assumption track team and Brittany’s Gifts.

Top Ten Finishers:

2018

Belay Tilahun breezed to an easy victory, becoming the first Ethiopian man ever to win the Bix 7 with a time of 32 minutes and 39 seconds. Second-place finisher Ben Flanagan recorded the highest finish ever by a Canadian with a time of 32 minutes and 56 seconds.

Margaret Muriuki won her second Bix 7 championship after pulling away from the field around five miles into the race. She finished with a time of 35 minutes and 57 seconds.

“Beat the Elite” runner Bob Beardsley crossed the finish line ahead of the elite runners, winning the challenge after tearing his ACL in 2017 right before the. He donated his prize money to charity.

Top Ten Finishers:

2019

Leanard Barsoton came into the race with fairly modest expectations, hoping to sneak into the top three finishers. But the 24-year-old native of Kenya left all other races in his wake to win the 45th annual race with a time of 32 minutes, 34 seconds.

Joyciline Jepkosgei, who holds world records in the half marathon and 10k, won the woman’s title with a time of 36 minutes, four seconds.

“Beat the Elite” runner Mallory Asbe gave everything she had, but the heat, humidity, and elite runners proved to be too much. She was just the fifth runner in the 16th year of the promotion not to be the first across the finish line.

Top Ten Finishers:

2020

The Quad-City Times Bix 7 moved to a virtual format for 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the race was a different format, competition, athleticism, and personal bests were still a part of the Bix.

Top Ten Finishers:

2021

For competitors in the 2021 Bix 7, it felt like old times on the seven-mile course through the streets of Davenport. The race was held amid some of the most severe conditions ever – 78 degrees at race time with 82 percent humidity, but the weather didn’t seem to bother former Olympians Leanoard Korir or Edna Kiplagat who crossed the finish line to win.

The conditions did bother “Beat the Elite” runner Doug Boleyn, 53. He went to the medical tent shortly after being passed on the final stretch.

Top Ten Finishers: