The Madrid Milers is an annual race held on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend in Madrid, Iowa. It features a 2 mile, 5 mile, and 15 mile race. 2018 was the third year in a row I’ve run the 15 mile here. Partly because, how cool is it to find a 15 mile race?? It’s also been a smooth event in the past, and is an easy age group win for me (no shame).

I couldn’t tell you how many enter the 2 mile, since it starts last. The 5 mile is the premier event, with lots of local runners and HS teams in the field. The 15 is the smallest event, and this year was around 40 people.

In a nutshell, the race starts by the school in Madrid, runs us up and down the river valley and onto open country roads. Around mile 9 or 10 runners get into the town of Woodward and take the famous High Trestle Trail back into Madrid where we weave around town to pick up the last mile or so. Aid Stations are roughly every 2 to 3 miles, but just have water. And since it’s a small field, if you’re not running with friends, you’re likely running alone.

Awards are given to overall winners, and top 3 age group. You have to wait FOREVER for the award ceremony, but it’s fine. The race shirt is normally a soft cotton shirt; comfy but not something you would run in.

The 2018 edition, though, had a bevy if problems, most of which in my opinion were preventable and stemmed from the Race Director.

Let’s start with the weather. It was very stormy the morning of the race, and while it was clearing, there was rain and storms very close to Madrid. Nevertheless, we ran. Around Mile 5, we had to cloud to cloud lightning literally directly above us, and we witnesses cloud to ground lightning strike a field less than two miles away. Personally, if I were out running, a storm wouldn’t stop me, but I wouldn’t run through an open corn field in a thunderstorm. And the race DEFINITELY should not have let all the 15 mile runners continue since we were the tallest objects on those roads.

Once we got into Madrid, we made turns on about every block, and there were volunteers at each corner to tell us where to go. Except for one corner. Fortunately I knew where I was going, so I made the turn. But literally at least 25% of the field missed the turn. Those runners got anywhere from 15.7 to 17+ miles.

One runner in the top 5 made the RD aware of the turn that was missed. He was told that “If someone was willing to donate signs” they could mark the turns. Seriously? All you need is a marker and a piece of cardboard and set it there. What’s worse, after being made aware, the RD never sent any volunteers who were working the finish area to cover that corner. Which led to 10+ runners missing the turn and getting lost.

While we were waiting for the last runner to come in, the RD was radioed that the runner was in town, and the sweeper golf kart rolled in shortly after. But we waited and waited for the last runner. About 10 minutes later (again the sweeper was at the finish) the RD gets a call that the last runner has collapsed about .5 from the finish. She called 911 and a bunch of us (about 6 of us still at the finish) took off back down the course to help. Amongst us (thankfully!!) a nurse and doctor. On our way to the runner, I saw the first responder police officer looking around not knowing where to go, because the RD didn’t say on the call, so we had to point them in the right direction. When we arrived both the nurse and doctor were attending to the runner, and asked if there was a first aid and/or IV Kit. No. There wasn’t one. How you don’t have those things for a 15 mile race in early September, I don’t know.

With first responders, a nurse, and doctor on scene, the rest of us jogged back to the finish area, because we weren’t needed at the scene anymore. We returned to the finish and the award ceremony was on going and almost complete. So the best I can tell, the RD called 911, a bunch of us took off to help, and she promptly started awards. Personally, I think starting an awards ceremony while you have your last runner down on course is incredibly tasteless and classless.

And this connects back to the missed turn. What if the last runner had missed that turn, and collapsed off course? The race new about this corner for OVER AN HOUR and never put someone there. Thankfully she made the turn and was on course. Prayers that she is ok and recovering fine!

Another runner raised some of these concerns to the RD. And this time was told “Well, we’re a small town race.” I think that’s a BS excuse. Being a small race is not an excuse for poor runner safety. If you’re hosting a 15 mile race, you need to be prepared, and the race and the RD were decidedly not.

As I said, I’ve run this race in 2016, 2017, and 2018. But I don’t see myself giving this race another go until they make runner safety a priority.