RAGBRAI Guess the Route Contest Winners Announced!

For over a decade the record set in 2009 of guessing 8/8 RAGBRAI Overnight Towns was unapproachable. Riders would guess five or six towns but the final two or three eluded our grasp. Well it is a record no more. In fact you 2023 guessers blew that out of the water. That’s right we had EIGHT people correctly guess the 2023 RAGBRAI 50 Route! We will have to be more surprising next year!

Over three hundred entries were received in the 20th (mostly) annual Guess the Route Contest to pick the RAGBRAI L towns, and quite a few of you guessed most of the towns correctly. Carroll and Tama-Toledo threw people for a loop! Of the eight people who correctly guessed the route, we randomly selected three winners. Our winners comprised a mix of Iowans and an Iowan-turned Floridian – Shelley your job is to bring the sunshine to RAGBRAI this year!

Here are this year’s winners:
Jeff Maske (Iowa City, Iowa) – 1st Place
Shelley George (Bradenton, Florida) – 2nd Place
Jonny Sneiderman (Nevada, Iowa) – 3rd Place

Jeff Maske of Marco Island, Florida was the big winner and will receive an exclusive RAGBRAI Golden Jersey by Primal Wear.

When asked to comment on his win, Jeff said, “Very excited for the 50th Anniversary Ride!  RAGBRAI is such a treasure for the State of Iowa.  Being able to participate is one of the highlights of my year!”

Jeff picked correctly on all eight towns: Sioux City, Storm Lake, Carroll, Ames, Des Moines, Tama-Toledo, Coralville, and Davenport! Some of those towns were on the original RAGBRAI route so may have been “easy guesses.” But we subbed in two curveballs – Carroll for Fort Dodge, and Tama-Toledo for Williamsburg. If you want to know his town guessing strategy you’ll have to find him on the ride and ask him!

Shelley George of Bradenton, FL took the second place prize, winning a certificate worth $80 of RAGBRAI merchandise, and Jonny Sneiderman of Nevada, IA took third place, winning a certificate worth $60 of merchandise.

With 113 guesses, Fort Dodge was our most frequently guessed town that we will not be visiting in 2023. Sorry about that! We visited Fort Dodge very recently in 2021 so they were left from the 2023 list – we like to wait at least five years between town visits if possible. Better luck in a few years Fort Dodge! Of the towns we are visiting, Davenport got the most guesses with 201 – that’s almost two thirds of all guesses!

How do this year’s results compare with previous contests?

2003 – Winner guessed 7 towns
2004 – Winner guessed 7 towns
2005 – Winners guessed 5 towns
2006 – Winners guessed 3 towns (wow, we stumped you!)
2007 – Winner guessed 5 towns
2008 – Winner guessed 6 towns
2009 – Winner guessed 8 towns (perfect!)
2010 – Winner guessed 6 towns
2011 – Winner guessed 6 towns
2012 – Winner guessed 5 towns
2013 – Winner guessed 6 towns
2014 – Winner guessed 5 towns
2015 – Winner guessed 5 towns
2016 – Winner guessed 7 towns
2017 – Winner guessed 6 towns
***GTR Hiatus***
2023 – Winner guessed all 8 towns (perfect!)

We hope you have a great time on the ride!

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