Bettendorf couple again claims Quad-City Times Bix 7 awards for fastest local runners

The Allbaughs collected a couple more in Saturday’s Quad-City Times Bix 7 as they swept the top awards for local runners.

Kelsey won the Eloise Caldwell Trophy as the fastest local female finisher and Devin was once again the winner of the Gregg Newell Trophy as the fastest local male. It is the third time they have swept the honors, duplicating what they did in 2022 and 2023. Kelsey also won the Caldwell in 2021.

“It never gets old,’’ admitted Devin, who is co-owner of Running Wild. “I’m always thinking about it and always trying. I’m usually just trying to place as best I can.

"The No. 1 goal is just to kick ass, but it’s definitely in the back of my mind.’’

His finishing time of 35 minutes, 42 seconds Saturday was good for 25th place overall. Kelsey, who is a teacher in the Pleasant Valley school district, finished in 46:10, putting her 49th among female runners.

She is training for the Twin-Cities Marathon and she said she actually found the rain that fell on Saturday’s race to be rejuvenating.

“It was a help,’’ she said. “It’s hard to keep my mileage high with such high humidity so the rain today was nice because my legs aren’t very fresh right now.’’

Devin admitted, however, that the rain, which caused the race to be delayed for an hour, made it one of the more unusual Bix races that he and his wife have run.

“Definitely just because of the crazy weather and not knowing whether it was going to happen or not,’’ he said. “So in that regard, yes it was definitely different.’’