CHAMPAIGN — Thousands of people will travel to central Illinois next month for the Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend. IPM’s Kimberly Schofield spoke with race director Jan Seeley about what goes into the event and what it means for the community.
Audio PlayerSCHOFIELD: The amount of people who are just hands-on is incredible. How do you get such a communal atmosphere in these races?
SEELEY: I’ve always said this: I take no credit for this, we are a very hospitable, welcoming community, and so a lot of the people just come out of their house and set up a chair and serve hot dogs, and I hear beer somewhere in Urbana. That’s just part of kind of who we are as a culture of Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy. But, the volunteer piece is huge, and we rely on about 2,500 people to sign up for various positions, and they’re an extension of us. They’re the beating heart, we like to say, of the race. And people are just really into it, and our runners feel very supported, and it’s our day to shine. It’s an event that shines such a nice light on our community and we step up to that challenge.
SCHOFIELD: The pacers. Can you tell me a little bit about where the pacers come from?
SEELEY: Yes, this is a personal story. So my late husband, Joe, died in October of 2012 and towards the end of his life, we kind of knew that he was going to lose his battle to leukemia, and our pace team, led by Jim Crist — he’s been with us since day one — decided while Joe was still alive to name the pace team after him. So our pace team are called Joe’s Pacers, and Jim recruits these runners from all over. We have about 25 and they run specific goal times. And if you’re somebody who’s trying to run, you know, a four hour marathon, your best bet is to stay with one of these pacers. They’re all festooned in a certain way. They wear Joe’s Pacers shirts, and they carry little signs, which is a little hard to run 26 miles carrying a little sign that has the pace. It’s a great way, if you’re someone who’s trying to hit a goal, attach yourself with them at the start line.
SCHOFIELD: Is there anything about the race that you find is your favorite?
SEELEY: I love that family comes on race weekend. It’s something that we’ve done every year, especially since Joe passed. So I love that part of it. And I’m mindful for myself, as well as my staff … we work all year. We work really hard. Please make sure you have some fun. Enjoy it. I do just love the joy of it. I love everybody having their story for why they’ve chosen our event, and to see the emotion at the finish line. I get teary just sort of thinking about it. At some point on Saturday, I will be at the finish line greeting runners. I’m often the person who gives the last medal to the last finisher. I just appreciate and have the utmost respect and sense of awe for what this event does for people and for our community.
SCHOFIELD: Jan, you had mentioned the community around the race, but also the race has given a lot to the community. Can you talk a little bit about the programs Kicks for CU Kids and then the Hands Only CPR training?
SEELEY: Yeah, the thermometer of giving goes up every year, and we’re almost at $2 million that we’ve given back, mostly to local charities, so we’re very, very proud about that. I’d like to think about our event as this platform for doing good in our community. And so this started as a very small idea, but we were doing a little training program over at Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club for the youth run, and we noticed many of them did not have the appropriate shoes. That little germ led to a nonprofit that we started last year called Kicks for CU Kids. Working with Mike Lindemann and Body N Sole, who sells us the shoes at cost, and we got sponsorship dollars from Human Kinetics here in Champaign and others. We were able to work with programs in schools, churches, or after-school with kids who were training for our 5k or a Busey Bank Illinois Youth Run for whom shoes was a barrier to participation. Last year, we gave shoes to 79 kids at seven different programs. And this year, we’re at like 10 programs and 130 shoes. So we’ve really amped it up. And then, a lot of people know that last year, on top of the protest that canceled the 5k, on top of almost losing our Saturday event, we had a cardiac arrest in Meadowbrook Park. The family’s comfortable sharing, it was Dr. Rafael Ruggieri, who is a general surgeon at our title sponsor, Christie Clinic. Most importantly, his life was saved in large measure because of the immediate and high quality CPR that he received from his son, Isaac, who he was running with, who had literally just finished his CPR training. And the first three runners behind him all had medical training. They did what they did until our on the ground EMS people got there, got great care at Carle, but 10% or 11% of people who have a cardiac event outside of a hospital die. The people who live, it’s because they got that high quality care. So it was a wake up call for us, and we started a free, hands-only CPR training program with Christie’s support and Jen Wilson in her company, Vital Education Supply. We’ve had six training sessions so far, and we’re doing a massive one on race weekend on Friday in Memorial Stadium for 200 people.
SCHOFIELD: Jan, can you talk a little bit about the theme, “Tradition and Triumph”?
SEELEY: “Tradition and Triumph” really came out of … we had hired a photographer last year, specifically focus on finish line emotion. And when we saw these photos, we all said, “triumph.” And then, because we’re at the university and we had the 100th anniversary of the stadium: tradition. What else could we add to that? And that’s how tradition and triumph came to. It really speaks to the triumphant feeling that people have at the finish line, but also the tradition of this race, of this community, of this university and of the things that runners and walkers do every year as part of their annual journey with us.
Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend 2025 runs April 24-April 26.