'Boys with Orbs' bring humor to Naperville Marathon
Matt Sniadecki's is a soccer ball.
Sean Clince's is a football.
Rob Cullen's is a bowling ball.
These are grown men here, neighborhood friends from the Maplebrook subdivision in Naperville. But they admit they act more like boys.
Sometimes their boyish nature shows more than others, like Sunday, otherwise known as Healthy Driven Naperville Half Marathon Day. Come race day, Matt, Sean and Rob won't just be men with a childish sense of humor, they'll be Boys with … Orbs.
That's right. Let's keep it PG.
The running club with the silliest name actually has a serious purpose, or a handful of them: to raise money for a worthy cause the men choose each year, to promote neighborhood friendships and the importance of getting in shape, and even to set an example for the children of these 40ish men that community and charity are important.
"We want to continue to do this long enough that our kids can then do this and take the lead and hopefully continue the process of giving back in some way," said Sniadecki, an eighth-grade English and history teacher at Jefferson Junior High in Naperville.
The informal group needed a name when about 10 Maplebrook dads wanted to raise money last year for the ALS Association on the heels of the Ice Bucket Challenge by running in the Naperville Half Marathon.
"At the Chicago Marathon, there was a guy who was dribbling a basketball the whole time, so that kind of gave me the thought that we could do something like that where everyone could carry a different type of ball," Sniadecki said.
The choice of orb was obvious for Sniadecki, who loves soccer and plays the sport at age 43. He took his orb to the starting line last year and dribbled it - on the ground, using his feet - almost the entire way, holding it in his arms only at the beginning when runners were too bunched up for there to be room.
Other runners selected their orbs with similar ease.
Jon Lueken, 45, carried a baseball and wore a baseball glove as a throwback to his high school days on the diamond. Jeff Burke, 41, who coaches football at Naperville North High School, of course carried a pigskin and had fun tossing it to the crowd, as did Clince, 40.
Perhaps, surprisingly, Cullen led the way while carrying the heaviest orb of them all: a 6-pound children's bowling ball.
The bowling orb at the front of the pack set the stage for an amused reaction from the crowd when the rest of the Boys with Orbs passed by.
"There was just this buzz going on," Lueken said. "The bowling ball was creating so much buzz about 'There comes another orb!'"
Cullen's orb was by far the weightiest, but toting any orb created an additional challenge, as if running 13.1 miles wasn't enough.
Zak Jarrell, 41, said the soccer orb he carried, which is decorated to show the countries of the world just like a globe, "was a little slippery," and Burke said his football, though not technically an "orb" by geometric standards, nonetheless got a bit sweaty.
The orb theme is expanding this year as team members plan to order about 200 small, stress ball-sized orbs imprinted with the team name and this year's charity of choice to lob into the crowd, just like at a parade.
The men also are adding American flag capes to their gimmick this year as they raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity that fits in perfectly with the marathon's connections to the Healing Field of Honor at Rotary Hill in Naperville and the race's own efforts to honor veterans. They're hoping to top last year's fundraising total of $4,000 for ALS.
"Any time we have an opportunity to give back to other people, especially people who serve our country, who give us the freedom that we are able to live by, it definitely is a good feeling," Burke said.
If you go
What: Healthy Driven Naperville Marathon and Half Marathon
When: 7 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
Where: The start/finish line is near the intersection of Eagle Street and Van Buren Avenue, Naperville
Cost: Free for spectators
Info: naperville26.com