Amazon Fireball Run Series stops in Dubuque, aims to find missing children

Amazon's adventure rally series Fireball Run stopped in Dubuque for filming Monday, September 25.

Fireball Run includes 40 teams from around the country on a giant scavenger hunt and race.

One of those teams is made up of two Dubuquers: Tom Rauen and HR Cook.

The pair rolled into the Town Clock Plaza in downtown Dubuque to applause from fans.

They said it's nice to be back in an area they know so well.

Rauen said, "first place we went to in Dubuque was the Fourth Street Elevator, so for us we knew where all the Dubuque stuff was at."

When they reach each town, they're given clues to find certain locations.

In Dubuque, they were sent to the Fenelon Place Elevator, the Loras College library, and the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.

Obviously, they had a leg up on the competition.

"We were asking other contestants over the last couple of days about the clues and they wouldn't tell us anything, and now they're in our hometown and so we were throwing them off a little bit and that was fun," Cook said.

However, it's not all about getting to the next destination. Rather, it's about the work they're doing along the way to help find missing children.

Each team was assigned a missing child.

They hand out flyers with their information, and their pictures are on their cars.

Cook said, "ours is Timmothy Pitzen, he was abducted out of a Wisconsin Dells amusement park in 2004; hasn't been seen since."

"We have to hand out 2,000 of these flyers over the course of the 2,000 miles and we’re giving them to everybody and once you tell the story of the child, now they’re involved and they want to help too," Cook added.

They hope they're able to bring Timmothy and other children home.

Rauen said, "as a new dad, it means a lot and I couldn't imagine what some of these families are going through when they're dealing with this. So what it does is give them hope that there's people out there actually looking and helping and trying to help them find their missing child."

Hillcrest Family Services offered free child ID's while the Fireball Runners were getting into town.

Health Educator Aleah Erenberger said they include a lot of information on the kids, including, "their fingerprints, their tooth imprints, little videos of them with their height and weight and all that just so if a child goes missing we have all the information to give to the police."

It's all about helping and finding kids.

If you'd like to learn more about Fireball Run,