Casey Thompson and Preston McNurlen were photographed with the family of the late Logan Luft, whom the pair ran a portion of RAGBRAI in honor of and to promote organ donation. Photo courtesy of Casey Thompson.

RAGBRAI brings bicycling enthusiasts from all over the map together.

For Sigourney natives Casey Thompson and Preston McNurlen, it brought them close to the family of Logan Luft, a Charles City teenager who was killed in an ATV accident on July 4. Thompson and McNurlen didn’t pedal, but rather ran from Swaledale to Charles City on July 26 in RAGBRAI, which was Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. A part-time deputy sheriff, Thompson chose this journey as an opportunity to promote awareness for organ donation and law enforcement, “Why we picked Logan, he came to light because his dad is a cop. And he was in the news so much, helping others and saving others’ lives through his donations of his organs. That’s what police officers are about, too. When you look at the blue-line flag that’s a warrior’s flag. It’s about sacrifice, it’s about commitment, it’s about willing to lay your own life down for another. That kid did, you know? The accident happened but he breathed life into five other people with the loss of his own, and that’s what police officers are doing when they lay their life on the line and protect other people, too.”

Thompson and McNurlen, who has cerebral palsy, have been running together for five years in marathons, but their 45.2-mile journey last week was their longest yet. Last spring, Thompson and McNurlen gave CPR classes to the Sigourney community in order to raise funds for a new wheelchair for McNurlen. Thompson says, “I may be pushing him, but that wheelchair that was largely funded by the community, that’s what’s carrying him. I mean the community is carrying him. So that when we go from race to race we represent a lot of people from Sigourney too, who are vested in and are part of the process and are part of what we’re about. So that’s really gratifying for a lot of people in town here that know, ‘I’m part of something good’.”


Casey Thompson photographed with Leonard Luft, the father of the late Logan Luft, a Charles City teenager who died from an ATV accident last July. Photo courtesy of Casey Thompson.

The biggest competition for Thompson and McNurlen will be an Ironman triathlon in Madison, Wisc. in 2019. Though there have been recent races that Thompson has ran alone, he says he would prefer never to run without McNurlen. Whether it’s a marathon or a one-mile race, the Sigourney duo will always be out there promoting a good cause.