'Healthy Driven' in new name for Naperville Marathon
“Healthy Driven” is not only the name of the marketing campaign for Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare, but now it's part of the new moniker for the third running of a marathon the hospital system sponsors in Naperville.
Hospital and city officials joined marathon organizers Tuesday in announcing the new name for this year's distance-running competition, scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8. They're calling it the “Healthy Driven Naperville Marathon and Half Marathon sponsored by Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare.”
“One of our new initiatives is to really embrace and help our communities embrace Healthy Driven in everyone's lifestyle, wherever you may be along that path,” Pam Davis, the hospital system's CEO, said. “Certainly the Healthy Driven concept of a marathon, both a half and a full marathon, is something that epitomizes what we're trying to do for our community.”
The Healthy Driven campaign launched in December with ads featuring professional race car driver Danica Patrick. Davis said the campaign motivates people to take control of their health and offers online challenges Illinois residents can take to improve their nutritional, physical or emotional well-being.
Roughly 7,000 people have taken a challenge so far, and 100,000 people have visited the campaign website, healthydriven.com, since it launched.
The online challenges in the physical category are not as intense as a marathon or half marathon — take a dog on a walk every day for a month, for example.
But renaming the race to fit the campaign still seemed like a natural move, said Brian Davis, Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare's vice president and chief marketing officer.
“We just felt that Healthy Driven fit the race perfectly,” Brian Davis said. “We think runners will like it, too.”
Race directors with Naper Events LLC expect to finalize this year's route and start/finish line location by the end of this month. Race Director Dave Sheble said the start/finish will move closer to downtown Naperville, pending city council approval.
Sheble said the changes will help “fine-tune” the marathon before its third year and address runner feedback asking for a flatter second half of the marathon course and an even better tour of Naperville neighborhoods. Changing the course also will help runners get past some major intersections earlier in the morning.
“It will improve dramatically the traffic flow for residents because we'll be getting past some bigger arteries sooner,” Sheble said.
Registration through one of several charities that will be fundraising with the race begins Monday, Feb. 16, while open registration starts Saturday, Feb. 28.