Naperville Marathon plans more downtown involvement
Naperville Marathon organizers say they are charting a course for the third annual race that more directly involves the commercial area of the city's downtown.
The next Naperville Marathon will take place Sunday, Nov. 8, and the exact course is likely to be up for city council approval next month, Race Director Bob Hackett said.
In designing this year's route, Hackett said organizers incorporated two main comments they heard from runners: Half marathoners wanted to see more of the city and full marathoners said the second half of the course could maybe take it easy on them a little bit.
“Last year, the half marathoners didn't get the most scenic view of Naperville, so we're changing that around. And for the second half for the marathoners, we wanted to make that a little bit easier because it was pretty tough,” Hackett said. “We heard the runners and we're accommodating them accordingly.”
But the main new emphasis for the race's third year will be on the downtown.
“What we'd like to do is try to get a lot more involvement downtown,” Hackett said. “We want the spectators visiting the different shops and restaurants, and afterward we want to make sure there's much more of a festival-type atmosphere for not just the runners but the community as a whole.”
As the race approaches, Katie Wood, executive director of the Downtown Naperville Alliance, said she plans to help organizers plan packet pickup locations and create special offers for runners who show their bib numbers at businesses. She also wants to make the downtown a cheering area and celebration hub for runners who are starting or finishing their race.
“Downtown businesses will look forward to welcoming the participants and their families the entire weekend,” Wood said. “It's a great weekend to showcase our wonderful downtown shops and restaurants to the running community and show them how just how welcoming Naperville is.”
Without the marathon, the first weekend in November could be a slow one for retail, said Kris Hartner, owner of Naperville Running Company, which has a store downtown. But with the race, he said the area will take on a “more festive energy.”
Registration likely will begin in late February with a week for runners to sign up by committing to donate to one of several partner charities, which are being finalized. Open registration will follow, and if there are increases from last year's prices of $85 for the half and $115 for the full, Hackett said he expects them to be slight.
Hackett said this year's race should draw as many or more registrants as last year's field of roughly 6,000. If more runners sign up, the race will be capped at a maximum of 10,000 participants.
The race's title sponsor continues to be Edward Hospital, which recently merged with Elmhurst Hospital to form Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare.
“Edward's commitment to ongoing healthy living is so huge,” Hackett said. “With the marathon's commitment to healthy living, we're just natural partners.”