Cyclist, runners will fill the streets Saturday morning

Memorial Bridge Run and Tour de Cape will take place simultaneously.

There will be plenty of running and cycling in Cape Girardeau on Saturday with both the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge Run and the Tour de Cape bike event taking place.

Participants in the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge Run will start at 8 a.m., about the same time cyclists will begin touring Cape.

The run, being put on by the Cape Road Runners, will begin at Fountain Street and Highway 74 near the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus, while the bike tour will begin at John Boardman Pavilion on Main Street.

Bridge Run race director Terry McDowell and Tour de Cape director Jan Gerard agreed that the two events shouldn't interfere with each other.

"I don't think it will have a big effect," McDowell said. "There are some crossover athletes in the area, but it shouldn't be a problem. We've had both going on the same day before and it was not a problem."

Added Gerard: "It's going to work out that [the runners] will only use the north side of the bridge, and we'll use the south side. It's very well choreographed, so it'll be all right."

A road race over the bridge took place the day that it opened for traffic, but McDowell said today's event, which will feature a 5-kilometer run and a noncompetitive 1-mile walk, will take on a different course and serves as the first of what he hopes will be an annual event.

Participants in the 5K will run across the bridge and turn around at Carpet Corner in Illinois. Runners and walkers will finish at the starting point.

Judging by the turnout of the previous race over the bridge, McDowell expects it to be a popular event.

"For the opening of the bridge, it was a huge run," he said. "We're not expecting that many people, but we're expecting a good crowd."

Commemorative ribbons will be given to all finishers, and the first overall male and female 5K finishers will earn a one-year subscription to the Southeast Missourian. Awards will also be presented to the top three male and female 5K winners in each age division.

"I'm feeling good about it," McDowell said. "I'm very confident it will go good. Cape Road Runners have put on several races, and they've always turned out good."

The sixth annual Tour de Cape noncompetitive cycling event will offer rides of 15, 30, 62 and 100 miles.

The tour will include a ride into north Cape Girardeau up to Trail of Tears, then the bikers in the 62- and 100-mile tours will ride across the bridge into Illinois.

Gerard, who has directed the Tour de Cape since it began, said she expects anywhere between 400 and 500 riders in the event, most of which participate in the 100-mile ride.

"If the weather's nice, we'll have over 400 people," she said. "We'll probably have 150 or more sign up on that day. I think it's going to turn out just beautiful if the weather holds."

Gerard expects people from all age groups and locations to participate in the event, which will also include a pasta dinner at Cape Montessori School on Sunday evening.

"There's children, there's a Girl Scouts troop riding, and a Boy Scouts troop has ridden the last five years," she said. "In the past there's been a lot of people from all over the country, from places like Texas, Oregon and California. This year I don't see people coming from as far away because of gas prices.

"I can't believe people do it," she added, laughing, "but they do."

All proceeds from the cycling event will go toward scholarships for the Mississippi Valley Therapeutic Horsemanship Program.