Overview The Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend is three days of racing through Champaign, Urbana and Savoy that finishes on the 50-yard line of Zuppke Field inside the University of Illinois' Gies Memorial Stadium. The weekend runs six distances: a marathon, a half marathon with a wheelchair division, a 10K, a 5K, a mile and a youth run. The courses are flat and the marathon is a Boston qualifier. It ranks among the 100 largest race weekends in the United States and averages 15,000 participants a year. On site Before the races, the Health and Fitness Expo fills with national and local vendors and runners collect their bibs, shirts and goody bags. On race morning musicians, cheerleaders and local businesses work the course, pace teams run set finishing times, and runners finish with a photo finish on the stadium field. From there they move to the 27th-Mile Celebrate Victory Bash, a public party with food, drinks and live music. The youth run goes off on Saturday afternoon. Audience The weekend draws runners of every age and ability from across central Illinois, the rest of the country and abroad. In the latest edition about 11,000 runners and 1,800 volunteers took part, from 12 countries, 43 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and 1,094 cities, 563 of them in Illinois. Families, coworkers and friends often enter as teams and race together. Talent and Influencers Jan Seeley, an award-winning race director, has led the event since its launch, with associate race director Jason Harden. Elite athletes get their own hospitality room, pace leaders carry the time goals, and a sponsor that titles one of the races speaks at its start line. Track record The race has given more than $2 million to charities in the community since its launch and puts its economic impact at about $4 million a year. Coverage runs to more than 430 news stories a year with an estimated news audience of 36.5 million, and the race's website draws about 20,000 visits a month. Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray called the event "a masterpiece". Brand presence Christie Clinic holds the title of the whole weekend, and single races and features carry partner names: the Michael Hogue Team Mile from RE/MAX Realty Associates, the Meijer-sponsored 27th-Mile Bash and the Spiros Law race app. A race title puts the partner on that race's shirts and finisher medals. Other levels bring expo booths, expo and finish-line signage, Gies Memorial Stadium ribbon-board logos and post-race billboards. Riggs Beer's owner says the race has turned down his competitors.