Rotarian Bob McKenzie of Tulsa, Okla., entered his first bicycle race in 2011 to raise money in the fight against polio, Rotary International?s signature effort.
A few years later, McKenzie organized his own team for Race Across America, advertised as the world?s toughest bicycle race. Riders start in Oceanside, Calif., and bike 3,000 miles across 12 states to Annapolis, Md. Along the way, they?ll climb 175,000 feet, traverse three major mountain ranges and cross four of America?s longest rivers.
The route takes racers through Iola, with a check-in point at Yates Center.
Members of the Iola Rotary group and Race Across America team Rotary RAAMS Polio gather outside Daylight Donuts in Iola Wednesday morning as the team passes through the city.
Iola?s Rotarians gathered Wednesday morning to welcome McKenzie?s team as they passed through the city. It?s becoming a tradition; the racing team has stopped to visit with Iola Rotarians the past three years. McKenzie once rode his bicycle from Tulsa to Iola to give a presentation about the race. Tulsa and Iola clubs are in the same district.
This is the fourth year McKenzie has organized a team for Race Across America (RAAM). His team is called Rotary RAAMS Polio. It includes four racers, 14 crew members and five minivans (one for each racer and additional media van).
Most of the team is comprised of international Rotarians. McKenzie is the only American; the others come from Austria and Italy. Nine of the crew members come from outside the U.S.
The team raised $1.025 million last year, and nearly $3 million since it began, McKenzie said. This year?s goal is $1.2 million.
Last year, the team broke the world record for fastest time completing the course in the 50-59 age group (using the average of the team members? ages). They completed the race in 6 days 18 hours 4 minutes. They?re just an hour behind that time this year.
The stretch through Kansas is one of the toughest, he said. Racers came out of the mountains of Colorado and traveled to Greensburg to spend last night in a hotel. They?ll travel through the rest of Kansas and the Ozark mountains today, spending the night at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Markus Mayr of Austria races along U.S. 54 on the east side of Iola Wednesday morning.
