RAGBRAI 2015 to stop in Hiawatha, Coralville

Hiawatha and Coralville will welcome RAGBRAI participants to the Corridor this summer.

The two cities were chosen to be overnight stops in the 2015 edition of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

The route for the event, organized by the Des Moines Register, was announced Saturday night at a party in Des Moines.

This will mark the second time Hiawatha has hosted RAGBRAI. The Register noted that the Cedar Rapids suburb is 10 times larger than it was in 2004, the last time it hosted the bike ride.

RAGBRAI was last in Coralville in 2011. This summer will mark Coralville's fifth time as a host. This summer, the emphasis is being put on the emerging Iowa River Landing District in Coralville.

Davenport will be the end point weeklong, west-to-east route.

The ride begins with riders dipping their tires in the Missouri River on July 19 in Sioux City and ends July 25 with riders dipping their tires in the Mississippi River in Davenport. That will be the same day as the Quad-City Times Bix 7 race.

Overnight stops this year include Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Eldora and Cedar Falls.

Joe Taylor, president and CEO of the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the economic impact of the event is tremendous, but there is more to it.

'It's going to be the major news event of the day because on the same Saturday there will be thousands of runners competing in the Quad-City Times Bix 7,” said Taylor, who was in Des Moines for the announcement.

The bets had it that Muscatine was going to be the ending city this year, as the ride last ended there in 2006. Muscatine Mayor DeWayne Hopkins said his city will resubmit its application next year for the event.

Taylor said this is the third shortest time period for a return town.

Bellevue was the ending town in 1989 and then again in 1991. Bellevue was the ending town in 1999 and then again in 2002.

Davenport was the original ending city in the ride's first year of 1973.

Davenport Alderman Bill Boom, 3rd Ward, said Saturday after the announcement that 'this time let's not schedule a flood to go with it all.”

The Mississippi River flooded twice in 2011, according to the National Weather Service, Davenport. The river reached 20.71 feet on April 22, making it the seventh-largest flood. The Mississippi flooded again in July with a crest of 15.24 feet coming on July 30.

'I think we did so well the last time we had RAGBRAI here they remembered it,” Boom said. 'We went through all kinds of stuff, and we proved our mettle.

'So, the last time we had 100,000 sports participants, we pulled it off without a hitch. This year, we'll do it better than last time.”