Marathoners bring money to Naperville economy, charities
Runners counted their mileage and the moments to the finish in the Healthy Driven Naperville Marathon for the third time this year, but it was the first time anyone counted the race's effect on the local economy.
Marathoners and their fans contributed an estimated $2.3 million to the Naperville economy during race weekend Nov. 6-8, according to a study race organizers with Naper Events LLC commissioned from Kent State University.
The university offers economic impact studies to directors of distance races, but Naperville Marathon planners hadn't ordered one during the race's first two years, when it was hosted at North Central College in 2013 and at Knoch Park in 2014.
"We thought this year, with bringing things downtown, would be a good year to take them up on that," Race Director Craig Bixler said.
With a start/finish line on Eagle Street near the Naperville Municipal Center and a race that looped all half marathoners and marathoners past the shops of the city's downtown, race organizers wanted to know how businesses were affected.
The university sent a survey link to the race's roughly 4,000 participants, and Bixler said 39 percent completed the questionnaire. They answered questions about spending on hotels, restaurants, gasoline, entertainment, retail purchases, clothing or other items and about spending at department stores, grocery stores, drugstores and the race expo.
Findings from runners who responded were extrapolated to determine the $2.3 million spending estimate, which did not include costs of airline tickets, public transportation or car rental.
Race Director Tom Horvath said businesses benefited from the event moving its post-race celebration into eight Naperville restaurants instead of offering each runner a free beer in an outdoor tent on a chilly day. This year, race directors encouraged participants to get their freebie at one of the restaurants - and bring along their fans as paying customers, too.
"It was great for the runners. They were in somewhere warm with their families and these establishments did very well," Horvath said.
The race also made a dent in fundraising goals for local, regional and national charities. Roughly 400 runners signed up to raise funds in exchange for cheaper race admission, and they brought in $241,000 for 27 charities.
"We were delighted with that," Bixler said about the charitable total. "It was slightly lower than last year, but we were above $750,000 for the three-year total."
While the total raised was lower than in 2014, so was the number of charity runners. The 2014 field had about 100 more charity runners than this year's race, so the average amount raised by each charity runner was actually higher this year, Bixler said.
"To me that speaks to the effectiveness of the charity program, which bodes well for the future," Bixler said.
Educational charities in Naperville were the front-runners, claiming $122,000 of the total raised to benefit schools in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 and Naperville Unit District 203.
About 100 runners for the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation raised a total of $87,000 and 32 runners for the Naperville Education Foundation raised $35,000.
"The runners did a fabulous job," said Ann Spehar, executive director of the Naperville Education Foundation. "We're honored by their contribution."