Naperville City Council members have approved the route for the inaugural Naperville Marathon, set for Nov. 10.
Incorporating both a full and a half marathon, the event will start at North Central College. Runners will make their way southwest through the downtown, then head down West Street and cut through the Springbrook Prairie Preserve before circling back toward the northwest, ending up back at North Central.
"If it were on a bicycle, it would be the Tour de Naperville," Councilman Bob Fieseler said.
Participants will have the option of using the event as a qualifying race for the iconic Boston Marathon.
Council member Paul Hinterlong wanted to be certain the event will be minimally disruptive for those who live or travel in the area of the race, and said they should be given plenty of advance notice of the route and timing.
"I would hope that we will have good contact with the residents that will be affected by this marathon," Hinterlong said. "I just don't want to have a lot of complaints that it wasn't planned out or that it wasn't communicated to them. It's a big event, so let's make sure everyone knows about it and how to address it and deal with it when the time comes."
According to City Clerk Pam LaFeber, planners intend to reach out to the community once the route has been established.
"There is going to be media, there are going to be door-to-door fliers, there will be a major communication push for this event," LaFeber said.
Electronic message boards also will go up a week ahead of the race, to let residents and motorists know their routine travels may be disrupted on marathon day.
Registration for the event, approved by the Council in December, opened on Jan. 28. It took about 14 hours for all 3,500 entry slots to fill.
Thursday, May 16 2013 9:49 PM EDT2013-05-17 01:49:53 GMT
Mayor Emanuel will celebrate two years in office by unveiling "Elevate Chicago" on Thursday, a series of construction projects to improve Navy Pier and McCormick Place.
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Monday, February 25 2013 1:41 PM EST2013-02-25 18:41:37 GMT
Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films.
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Tuesday, May 21 2013 11:31 AM EDT2013-05-21 15:31:43 GMT
Search-and-rescue crews worked through the night after a tornado barreled through the Oklahoma City suburbs. At least 24 people were killed, including nine children. Those numbers were expected to climb.
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Tuesday, May 21 2013 9:21 AM EDT2013-05-21 13:21:08 GMT
Every time a tornado makes news, the local public cannot help but think about what happened in this area, back in 1967. A destructive storm system hit the southwest suburbs 46 years ago.
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Monday, May 20 2013 8:33 PM EDT2013-05-21 00:33:23 GMT
A Merrillville police officer shot a man Monday afternoon when the two got into a fight in the parking lot of the Merrillville Planned Parenthood office.
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Monday, May 20 2013 5:52 PM EDT2013-05-20 21:52:14 GMT
Gov. Pat Quinn said Illinois lawmakers have a chance to make history on two fronts this month by approving a plan to fix the state's decades-old pension crisis and legalizing same-sex marriage.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Illinois lawmakers have a chance to make history on two fronts this month by approving a plan to fix the state's decades-old pension crisis and legalizing same-sex marriage.
