New marathon course to display 'wide array of Naperville'
It's goodbye prairies and valleys, hello neighborhood streets.
Goodbye North Central College and hello Naperville Central High School.
Goodbye narrow paths trod by 2,500 runners and hello wide roads filled with a field of 6,000.
The Edward Hospital Naperville Marathon is parting ways with the course used in the inaugural event last year and introducing a new one that organizers say will accommodate more racers and better display the city during the second annual race at 7 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 9.
“We achieved what we wanted to achieve last year, learned what we wanted to learn and then felt comfortable to move on,” Race Director Dave Sheble said. “We used up all the space we had with that number of runners, so the next challenge is to move it onto the streets more.”
The new course travels through 25 neighborhoods and aims to get residents involved as supportive spectators. It avoids Greene Valley Forest Preserve, where runners complained of confusing turns and challenging hilly terrain, and skips Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve, too. It closes traffic on some big streets like 75th and Washington, but only for a few hours. It starts and ends near the city's downtown and it's got runners excited.
“Running through those neighborhoods, which there are going to be more of them on the new course, people just came out,” said Merri Lazenby of St. Charles, a returning half marathoner. “It was freezing cold, it was early in the morning and there were people out there, and I think running through the neighborhoods is just going to increase that because there weren't any spectators in the forest preserve. I think the neighborhoods will be fun.”
In the second year of what organizers aim to turn into a tradition, the Edward Hospital Naperville Marathon is seeking greater community awareness, participation and support as it moves from 9 miles on Naperville roads to 27 among the half and full marathon races.
“Going from 9 road miles to 27 road miles — that's a big change,” Sheble said. “We want to show off the city of Naperville as much as we can.”
New miles
It's still 26.2 miles.
That's about as far as similarities go between last year's marathon course and the route this year's competitors will take.
This year, as many as 6,000 runners will line up to start on Hillside Road behind Naperville Central High School, using the same location where roughly 7,500 people gather each Thanksgiving to run the annual Naperville Noon Lions Turkey Trot 5K.
“The move to the new start/finish line will help accommodate a larger race,” said Brian Davis, vice president and chief marketing officer for Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare, the race's title sponsor.
Runners won't make it to North Central College, which hosted the starting line of last year's race, unless they're going the full distance. In that case, they'll pass WONC student radio broadcasters at Chicago and Columbia avenues at mile 18.
Sheble said the course makes a southward loop out of the downtown on West Street, Plainfield/Naperville Road, Bailey Road and Modaff Road before turning on Dupahze Street just north of Knoch Knolls Road to head west and then back north again.
Book Road, Whispering Hills Road and Oswego Drive bring runners in both races back to the starting area, where half-marathoners will loop on Aurora Avenue and Webster Street to complete their 13.1 miles, and marathoners will continue north past Burlington Park to Naperville North High School.
The full course then follows Mill Street to Chicago Avenue, winds around several neighborhoods in an area not touched by the race last year, then hits Washington Street at Hobson Road to progress north to the finish.
“We have a wide array of Naperville to show them in the course,” Sheble said.
The marathon has a total ascent of 177 feet, and Sheble said runners should expect the route to be hillier than last year — even without the dreaded segment in Greene Valley Forest Preserve.
“The half course is actually a very fast course. The full course might be perceived as being hillier,” Sheble said. “I think hills are a good thing in a race like this. It uses different muscle groups. You shake your muscles up and a lot of people do run better, especially late in the race.”
Plus, the logic remains that what goes up must come down, and most runners enjoy a nice downhill grade from time to time.
Support comes alive
At 15 spots along the marathon course, runners can get aid in the form of water, sports drinks, restrooms and medical attention. But a group of volunteers led by Naperville police officer Mike Wasilewski has been working to ensure support extends beyond runners' physical needs.
Emotional needs for encouragement during the endurance event are expected to be met by pep bands, cheerleaders, dance squads, business groups, neighborhood organizations with cowbells and silly signs and families hosting race day cookouts. Last year, Wasilewski said it was a tougher sell to get groups involved as spectators, although many did have a presence on streets the marathoners traveled.
“Now it's a known quantity that the marathon is coming through,” Wasilewski said. “Now people saw it and we're getting a lot more contacts saying, 'It was really cool seeing groups out and seeing fans along the course and how can we be a part of that?'”
Sheble said spectators are an important part of the race experience, which this year “is starting to evolve into a parade-like environment.”
Neptune, the fire truck mascot used by the Naperville cancer fundraising nonprofit Bike Bald, will camp out with a flock of fans near the beginning and end of the race, like part of a festival at a parade's staging area.
Veterans will be honored by riding in a pace vehicle at the head of the race, like a grand marshal in a parade. And roughly double the number of runners, in their ever-colorful layers of moisture-wicking gear, will serve as the parade's main body of units.
Beer sales beginning at 9 a.m. in Knoch Park, where a larger runners' village will be set up at the end of the race to provide food, massages, medical attention and music, will continue the festive fun, organizers say. And the party is expected to continue in downtown Naperville restaurants and shops, some of which will be hosting watch parties or offering weekend specials.
“People in the community have been so supportive and really showed up on race day to support the runners, to provide them water when they needed it but to provide them some moral support along the way,” Edward Hospital's Davis said. “It's what you'd expect from Naperville, but it was great to see it come alive.”
Marathon road closures
This year's Edward Hospital Naperville Marathon and Half Marathon will tread on 27 miles of streets within Naperville on Sunday, up from 9 road miles last year. Organizers say the routes cross 285 intersections, which will be staffed by volunteers and/or police. Roads will be closed on a “rolling” basis, meaning they won't close until runners are approaching and they'll reopen when all runners are past.
A new interactive detour map on the city of Naperville's website at naperville.il.us/napervillemarathon.aspx can help people determine how to get to their destinations. The city also has developed a parking and spectator guide that notes shuttle service, parking areas and preferred public spectator spots.
Here is a list of intersections that will be affected with closures and detours at the following approximate times, beginning at the start of the race and ending at the finish:
• Hillside Road and West Street: 6:30 to 8 a.m.
• Rickert Drive and West Street: 6:30 to 8:30 a.m.
• 75th Street and Rickert Drive: 6:30 to 8:30 a.m.
• Rickert Drive and Bailey Road: 6:30 to 8:30 a.m.
• Bailey and Modaff roads: 6:45 to 8:45 a.m.
• 87th Street and Modaff road: 6:45 to 9 a.m.
• Modaff Road and Dupahze Street: 7 to 9 a.m.
• Dupahze Street and Seiler Drive: 7 to 9 a.m.
• Seiler and Gateshead drives: 7 to 9 a.m.
• Leverenz at Plainfield/Naperville and Book roads: 7:15 to 9:30 a.m.
• Book Road at 87th and 83rd streets: 7:15 to 10 a.m.
• Book Road and 75th Street: 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• Whispering Hills Drive and Oswego Road: 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• West Street and Aurora Avenue: 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• Mill Street and Ogden Avenue: 8 to 11:30 a.m.
• Mill Street and Jackson Avenue: 8 to 11:45 a.m.
• Washington Street at Jackson and Chicago avenues: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Washington Street and Hobson Road: 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Washington Street and Hillside Road: 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.