As some 50- to 60,000 bicycle riders roll into Des Moines on RAGBRAI starting this morning, thousands more athletes are arriving in Iowa’s largest city for start of the Junior Olympic Games.
Catch Des Moines president and CEO Greg Edwards says sporting events will be held in venues all around the metro area.
“We’re going to have 14,000 athletes,” Edwards says. “About 700 are from Iowa, the rest are from all over the country and it’s the largest youth outdoor sporting event in the nation.”
The athletes range in age from as young as five or six up through 18. The games, sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union, will run over the course of 11 days.
“It’s 15 different sports, everything from track and field is their largest which will have probably close to 9,000 of those 14,000 athletes,” Edwards says, “but then they’ve got basketball, gymnastics, field hockey, on and on and on.”
In addition to the athletes, when you add in the coaches, family members and friends, the games are expected to draw about 20,000 people. This is the 57th annual Junior Olympic Games and it marks the seventh time they’ve been held in Des Moines.
“The AAU folks tell us it’s got a $44 million impact,” Edwards says. “They’ll fill up just about every hotel in the metro area. You’ll see kids in restaurants and in all over town, so it’s a wonderful piece of business for us to be able to host.”
The capitol city will also host the event in 2026 and 2030. Someone who happens to be arriving in Des Moines today for business or pleasure will have an exceptionally difficult time finding a place to stay, as the start of the games coincides with the arrival of the statewide bicycle ride which will be overnighting at Des Moines’ Water Works Park.
“RAGBRAI, we’re anticipating at a minimum of 50,000 riders coming into Des Moines and it’s going to be an incredible time for the city,” Edwards says. “So yeah, hotels are pretty much a premium on Wednesday night and then they’re going to be really pretty tight over the next 11 days with the Junior Olympics as well.”
Venues for the games include MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex in West Des Moines, Drake Stadium at Drake University and the Wellmark YMCA in Des Moines, and Grant Field at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.