It's that time...another season's Rank Stranger Tips ("Rank Stranger tip – Madison-Chicago, a brief history lesson")

Rank Stranger history IS the history of the Madison-Chicago run relay because we've been in all 7 races, the only team that can make that claim. Jeff and Eric have run in every race; Mark and Art 6 of 7. Marc Golab and Renee Roux are 4-time offenders.

The race started in 2005 as the Great Midwest Relay with only 68 teams. Co-founder Joe Pulliziano re-branded the race Madison Chicago 200 (MC200) in 2007. Joe sold to Ragnar in 2010 but the Ragnar brand wasn't evident until 2011.

The race web site was hosted from 2005 - 2010 by IMS, Rank Stranger co-founder Mark Clear's company.

Promotion by Ragnar, which has races around the country (15 at last count) has sparked enormous growth in the race (likely to top 400 teams this year). It is exciting to have so much company on the course but we'll always miss Joe's signatures, including the network of volunteers (including the ham radio operators at the checkpoints) and his casual attitude about race rules and English grammar.

This Rank Stranger web site plots Madison-Chicago relay teams by year: http://t.co/S4aYbTxR

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Rank Stranger trivia: Nineteen (19) Rank Strangers have run multiple races…there are 18 who have run a single race. Ed S. will join the repeat offenders with his second race this year. Three members of this year’s team are first-timers (Beth, Steve, Maddy).