Singles, couples and groups will compete in different classes in a 40-mile race around Coles County on Saturday.

The Charleston Parks and Recreation Department is having its third Charleston Challenge 40 Mile Relay at 9 a.m. Saturday starting at Carl Sandburg Elementary School.

Diane Ratliff, the tourism and special events coordinator, said there are three categories: the individual Superman, the two-person dynamic duo and the three-to-four person Teams.

“We start and end at Carl Sandburg (Elementary School) and it travels over 40 miles of Coles County,” Ratliff said. “It makes a big loop.”

She said there are 11 legs, or parts, of the race where the teams can switch partners.

“It can be set for any individual fitness level,” Ratliff said. “If you are more comfortable running two miles at a time or four, you can run those legs that are shorter. Individuals who are comfortable running longer distance will run eight to 10 miles.”

The members of the team who do not run that leg are transported by vehicles to the next point.

“We go all the way down to Lerna, Lincoln Log Cabin and back up,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff said there are transition points between the legs of the race.

“I describe it as a leap frog effect,” Ratliff said. “What they’ll do is three individuals would start of in the vehicle and they’ll go ahead and drive to the first transition area where they’ll wait out the first runner.”

She said they opened up the race to different groups because there were people who could not get enough for a team.

Ratliff said they started this race three years ago to model the 80-mile relay River to River, which starts in Marion.

This relay is a specific eight-person relay.

“Obviously we didn’t want to compete with them and steal their participants, so we created a smaller version for people who could not get eight people together,” Ratliff said.

The race is staffed by volunteers from the kinesiology and sports studies event management class, who help coordinate the race and run the transitions areas.

There are 22 teams and individuals signed up, with a total of 76 participants.

“It’s one of those things that obviously people spend a lot of time together and create lots of memories along the route,” Ratliff said.

She said most of the participants that take part in this event usually participate in many other races.

The route of the race can be found at the Charleston Challenge Duathlon website.

“I just like to see the running community come together for an event,” Ratliff said. “They have fun while they are out on the course and encourage each other and that’s great to see the comradery between people.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].