diff --git a/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/storage/CassandraStorage.java b/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/storage/CassandraStorage.java
index e5e88865c..ea70ea76f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/storage/CassandraStorage.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/storage/CassandraStorage.java
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@
 import com.datastax.driver.core.Row;
 import com.datastax.driver.core.Session;
 import com.google.common.base.Optional;
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.collect.ComparisonChain;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
@@ -54,6 +57,10 @@ public class CassandraStorage implements IStorage {
   com.datastax.driver.core.Cluster cassandra = null;
   Session session;
 
+  /** simple cache of repair_id.
+   * not accurate, only provides a floor value to shortcut looking for next appropriate id */
+  private final ConcurrentMap<String,Long> repairIds = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+
   /* Simple statements */
   private final String getClustersStmt = "SELECT * FROM cluster";
 
@@ -84,6 +91,9 @@ public class CassandraStorage implements IStorage {
   private PreparedStatement deleteRepairScheduleByClusterAndKsPrepStmt;
   private PreparedStatement deleteRepairSegmentPrepStmt;
   private PreparedStatement deleteRepairSegmentByRunId;
+  private PreparedStatement insertRepairId;
+  private PreparedStatement selectRepairId;
+  private PreparedStatement updateRepairId;
 
   public CassandraStorage(ReaperApplicationConfiguration config, Environment environment) {
     cassandra = config.getCassandraFactory().build(environment);
@@ -126,6 +136,9 @@ private void prepareStatements(){
     getRepairScheduleByClusterAndKsPrepStmt = session.prepare("SELECT repair_schedule_id FROM repair_schedule_by_cluster_and_keyspace WHERE cluster_name = ? and keyspace_name = ?");
     deleteRepairSchedulePrepStmt = session.prepare("DELETE FROM repair_schedule WHERE id = ?");
     deleteRepairScheduleByClusterAndKsPrepStmt = session.prepare("DELETE FROM repair_schedule_by_cluster_and_keyspace WHERE cluster_name = ? and keyspace_name = ? and repair_schedule_id = ?");
+    insertRepairId = session.prepare("INSERT INTO repair_id (id_type, id) VALUES(?, 0) IF NOT EXISTS");
+    selectRepairId = session.prepare("SELECT id FROM repair_id WHERE id_type = ?");
+    updateRepairId = session.prepare("UPDATE repair_id SET id=? WHERE id_type =? IF id = ?");
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -707,26 +720,33 @@ public Collection<RepairScheduleStatus> getClusterScheduleStatuses(String cluste
   }
 
   public long getNewRepairId(String idType){
-    long idValue = 0;
-
-    // Create id counter if it doesn't exist yet
-    session.execute("INSERT INTO repair_id (id_type, id) VALUES('" + idType + "', 0) IF NOT EXISTS");
+    if (!repairIds.containsKey(idType)){
+        repairIds.putIfAbsent(idType, 0L);
+        // Create id counter if it doesn't exist yet
+        session.execute(insertRepairId.bind(idType));
+    }
+    long idValue = repairIds.get(idType);
+    int attempts = 0;
 
-    // Get current value of the counter, increment and perform CAS
+    // Increment and perform CAS, if it fails then fetch current value of the counter and repeat
     while(true){
-      idValue = session.execute("SELECT id FROM repair_id WHERE id_type = '" + idType + "'").one().getLong("id");
       idValue++;
-      ResultSet casResult = session.execute("UPDATE repair_id SET id=" + idValue + " WHERE id_type = '" + idType + "' IF id = " + (idValue-1));
+      ResultSet casResult = session.execute(updateRepairId.bind(idValue, idType, (idValue-1)));
       if(casResult.wasApplied()){
-        break;
+          break;
+      }else{
+          idValue = session.execute(selectRepairId.bind(idType)).one().getLong("id");
+          Preconditions.checkState(idValue < Long.MAX_VALUE);
+          attempts++;
+          if(10 <= attempts && 0 == attempts % 10){
+              LOG.warn("still cant find a new repairId after " + attempts + " attempts");
+          }
       }
     }
-
+    repairIds.put(idType, Math.max(idValue, repairIds.get(idType)));
     return idValue;
   }
 
-
-
   private RepairRun buildRepairRunFromRow(Row repairRunResult, long id){
     return new RepairRun.Builder(repairRunResult.getString("cluster_name"), repairRunResult.getLong("repair_unit_id"), new DateTime(repairRunResult.getTimestamp("creation_time")), repairRunResult.getDouble("intensity"), repairRunResult.getInt("segment_count"), RepairParallelism.fromName(repairRunResult.getString("repair_parallelism")))
         .cause(repairRunResult.getString("cause"))