Quad Cities Marathon 2026: What Time Does Each Race Start and Can You Still Enter?

Eight days out — The marathon, half marathon and five-person relay go at 7 a.m. CDT on Sunday, Sept. 27 in downtown Moline, Illinois, with the 10K and 5K 15 minutes behind them. Entry is still open at $111.98 for the marathon and $84.48 for the half, and both jump on Sept. 26. The trap in this race is not the course — it is that packet pickup happens Saturday only, and there is none on race morning.

This is the flat one. The Quad Cities course crosses the Mississippi twice and runs four cities in two states, and the organizers have been selling it for years as the place where a Boston qualifier is a matter of pacing rather than terrain. It carries a 2026 RRCA National Championship designation and was voted the best marathon in Illinois for 2025.

What time does each Quad Cities race start?

Everything starts and finishes in downtown Moline, which is the unusual comfort of this weekend: one small area holds the expo, both start lines and the finish. Runners in the 7:15 waves get an extra quarter hour of sleep and a warmer start, which in late September on the Mississippi is not nothing.

Why does Saturday matter more than race morning?

Because your bib is only available on Saturday. Packet pickup runs Sept. 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Stoney Creek Inn, 101 18th Street in Moline, and the race states plainly that there is no day-of pickup. A runner driving in early Sunday morning does not get a number.

If your Saturday cannot be rearranged, the race allows someone else to collect your packet on your behalf. Arrange that during the week, not at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Anyone doing the 1-mile on Saturday morning is already downtown and has the easiest version of this problem.

How much does it cost, and when does the price move?

Registration is final: the race allows no refunds and no transfers, so the entry you buy is the entry you own regardless of what the forecast does between now and the gun. That policy is worth reading twice before you take the $5.50 saving for registering this week rather than next.

What does the weather usually do on Sept. 27 in Moline?

Five dry mornings in a row at the Quad City International Airport, and a 21-degree spread between the coldest and the warmest. NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for the date read 72°F for the high and 49°F for the low, which puts a 7 a.m. gun close to the daily minimum in an average year.

No forecast reaches Sept. 27 yet — the National Weather Service grid for Moline currently runs only through Friday, Sept. 25, where it shows highs from 64 to 73°F, overnight lows from 50 to 58°F, and a wet Monday with rain showers likely on a 15 mph northeast wind. That is a cool, unsettled week, not a warm one. The grid reaches Sept. 27 around Sept. 20, and the hourly numbers for Moline will be at weather.gov under the Davenport office from then on. Past race mornings we have logged are on our weather page, and the kit tables sit on the what-to-wear index.

What should you wear for a 7 a.m. start on the river?

Take the dew point column seriously, because three of those five mornings had dew points within 6 degrees of the air temperature. That is saturated air: sweat has nowhere to evaporate to, and a shirt that felt fine at the start stays wet for 26 miles. A singlet with arm sleeves handles the 50s better than a long-sleeve top you will be stuck in.

If the morning lands nearer the 2022 reading of 44°F, add throwaway gloves and a layer you can drop at the line. Our temperature-by-temperature chart has the full breakdown, and a flat course rewards a lighter, faster shoe than a hilly one — the rotation page covers which pair belongs on a day like this.

Does a flat course change your pacing plan?

It removes your excuses more than it removes your work. On rolling courses the hills force variation and give the quadriceps a break; on a flat one the same muscles do the same thing for three or four hours. Runners who negative-split here tend to be the ones who held back over the first two bridges rather than the ones who banked time. Our training calendar puts the last hard session well behind you by now — this week's job is sleep, not fitness.

How does it compare with the other races on the fall board?

Quad Cities sits in the same September-to-October cluster as several races we have covered, and they sell different things. The Erie Marathon is flatter still but runs laps of a state park; the Akron half charges you 406 feet of climbing for its scenery; the St. George Marathon a week later hands you 2,560 feet of descent and a 40-degree start at altitude. If a Boston time is the point and you do not want to gamble on mountain weather, the river is the safer bet.

First marathon or first half? Read the night-before checklist on Saturday evening, after the expo, not before. Everything else going off this weekend is on the Sept. 19–20 board, and the rest of the shorter fields are on our half and 5K page.

TL;DR — Sunday, Sept. 27: marathon, half and relay at 7 a.m. CDT, 10K and 5K at 7:15, all in downtown Moline. Packet pickup is Saturday 9 to 5 at the Stoney Creek Inn and there is none on race day. Entry is open at $111.98 for the marathon and $84.48 for the half until prices rise Sept. 26, with no refunds and no transfers. The last five Sept. 27 mornings ran 44 to 65°F and every one of them was dry.

Sources

• Race weekend dates, start times, packet pickup location and hours, course description and championship status: qcmarathon.org and its race information page, retrieved Sept. 19, 2026.
• Entry fees, price-change dates and the refund and transfer policy: Race Roster registration page, read Sept. 19, 2026.
• Date and distances cross-checked against RunGuides.
• Week-ahead forecast: National Weather Service gridpoint forecast for Moline (office DVN, grid 70,66), retrieved Sept. 19, 2026.
• Past Sept. 27 observations: Quad City International Airport (MLI) records at 6:52 a.m. CDT via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. Climate normals: NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 daily normals, station USW00014923.