2026 Russell Beat the Elite runners to have some of the smallest head starts ever

So it makes sense that they will have some of the smallest head starts ever given to runners in the annual feature of the Quad-City Times Bix 7.

Davenport’s Phil Young will receive the smallest head start ever given to a Beat the Elite runner and Bettendorf’s Kelsey Allbaugh will get the second smallest advantage ever given to a woman when the Bix 7 is held Saturday.

In the Beat the Elite competition, two designated runners are allowed to start the race somewhere along the course and then attempt to beat the top elite runners to the finish line. If they do so, they receive $2,500.

Young, a 40-year-old former Assumption High School runner who has been running the Bix 7 since he was 11, will start the race just 0.85 of a mile ahead of the rest of the field. He will begin at the top of the Brady Street Hill, where the course turns right onto Kirkwood Boulevard.

Ben Lloyd, in 2009, had the smallest previous headstart. He began nine-tenths of a mile ahead of everyone.

Allbaugh, 35, will receive a 2.2-mile head start. She will be placed at the intersection of Kirkwood and Spring. The eastern-most edge of the grass median in that area will serve as her starting line.

Pleasant Valley High School state champion Grace Boleyn is the only female Beat the Elite runner ever to get a smaller advantage. She had a 2-mile head start in 2024. Joy Ripslinger received a 2.25-mile edge in 2017.

Young has been among the top 100 finishers in the Bix 7 every year since 2009 and has been in the top five in his age group 11 years in a row. He ran the course in 37 minutes, 49 seconds last year to place 75th overall, 69th among men and third in the men’s 35-39 age group. His best Bix 7 time ever was 37:12 in 2022.

Allbaugh has won the Eloise Caldwell Trophy as the top local female finisher in the race four of the past five years. She did it last year in a time of 46:10, her slowest Bix time since her first Caldwell win in 2021. Her husband, Devin, has been the top local male runner in the race three times.