News : Tour deLights diehards: Many compete often in winter races

Kim and Rachel Brant, Bill Copper and Mark Rocarek meet often at distance races in Iowa and beyond.

When they realized how cold it was going to be on Sunday night, more than one-third of the people who had signed up to run in the Tour delights and had already paid their entry fee decided to stay inside.

But not Mark Rocarek.

Rocarek, of Vinton, is one of several Iowa runners who competes in races year-round, including in conditions even worse than Sunday night’s below zero wind chill.

In January of this year, Rocarek was one of a handful of people who finished the 23-mile Triple D race. This event, which begins in Dubuque, also includes bicyclists and skiers.

“It was 15 below zero and there was six inches of snow on the ground,” he said.

Rocarek runs dozens of races each year, in every kind of weather. “I had four last weekend,” he said.

Many of the runners in the Tour delights find out about the race through running and fitness web sites, said John Frazier, the Vinton-Shellsburg cross country coach. Web sites like www.fitnesssports.com and www.active.com list events such as the Tour deLights.

They run in events with names like Reindeer Ramble in Moline, Ill.; Bill Copper of Marion wore a Reindeer Ramble shirt to the Tour deLights.

Kim Brant of Atkins ran in the male age 50-59 category in Vinton on Sunday. His daughter, Rachel, competed in the 20-29 female category. The two run in races throughout Iowa throughout the year. They often see Copper and Rocarek at race events; the four posed together for another photo for their scrapbooks while in Vinton.

The man with the fastest time so far in the young history of the Tour came all the way from Minnesota to race after reading about the event on one such web site, said Frazier.

Mike Miroux of Minnesota finished the course in 2008 with a time of 16.32. Most racers finish with times in the 20s although a couple of entrants have endured the cold more than 40 minutes to finish the race.