Northland non-profit tackles 200 mile Ragnar Relay in unique fundraiser

An overnight, nearly 200 mile running adventure concluded Saturday in Canal Park.

Hundreds of people crossed the finish line of the 21st Ragnar Road Minnesota, a relay race from Minneapolis to Duluth.

Beginning on Friday, 260 teams made up of 12 runners each took turns racing anywhere from 11 to 22 miles each.

A team from Moose Lake, as well as a non-profit group called Women Running for Women (WR4W), were among those competing. Led by Anna Crain, WR4W used the event to raise money for umbrella group, Northland Family Programs.

"We had a financial goal to raise $30,000. We exceeded it. All the generous donors we got $31,000, all because the hardship of Covid we needed to be creative," said Crain, the Northland Family Programs director.

Ragnar operations lead Annie Vainis added, "the nice thing about Ragnar is you don’t actually have to be a serious runner. Some of our legs can be under three miles and some of them, our longest leg this weekend, was over 11 miles. It actually meets the needs of every individual runner, which is kind of nice."

Around 3,120 individuals ran legs in this year’s Ragnar. When uploaded results will be available here.