What would drive a group of Nebraskans to run from Omaha to Lincoln on Saturday? They did it to have fun, educate runners on ways to be environmentally conscious and raise money to benefit local trails.

Runners in the inaugural Market to Market Relay took off bright and early in the morning from the Old Market in Omaha to Haymarket in Lincoln.

If you're wondering how much fun this race can be, the start was a good indication. Instead of a starting gun, runners took off to the sound of a trombone playing.

"I came from Bogota, Colombia just to run this race and we came in second, but we all finished and we loved it and we're coming back next year," said Andres Trasalvla.

A group from Lincoln called the "Justice League" decided to do the run dressed up as superheroes. Jeremie Memming said he participated to "do a run and have some fun and check out Nebraska a little bit."

Organizers say this was the first long distance run in Nebraska. In all, it was 86 miles long which was broken up into 24 stages. Each runner on a team ran three or four stages. While one was running, the others followed in a team vehicle.

"You kind of go all out and then three hours later you have to do it again and pretty much everyone in our group has done marathons and everyone was like, this is so much harder than what we've done before," said Christy Nielsen.

The event was limited to 150 teams of six to eight runners and it did sell out. In addition to environmental education, the group hoped to highlight companies and nonprofit organizations that are making a difference.

The race raised more than $6,000 with proceeds benefiting the Nebraska Trails Foundation. All levels of athletes took part, from Olympic marathon qualifiers to recreational runners.