Frequently Asked Questions
If you do not see your question answered below, send your question to director@illinoismarathon.com.
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, ILLINOIS
Marathon |Half Marathon | Marathon Relay | 10K | 5K | Youth Run | Mile | Volunteer
Registration and Packet Pickup
Our health & safety policy is spelled out on this page of the website: https://illinoismarathon.com/register/health-safety-policies/
Go to our registration confirmation page.
Yes, absolutely. Here are the steps to follow to do this:
1. Go to your participant dashboard: https://raceroster.com/dashboard/Participant/Home.php
2. Sign into your Race Roster account
3. Locate your registration
4. Select “Edit Registration” button on the top right
5. Edit your registration as needed
6. Click Submit
Yes, it is possible—and easy—to change your entry from one race (aka sub-event) to a different race. You can also transfer your registration to someone else.
Email director@illinoismarathon.com and we’ll help you with the transfer process.
If you purchased insurance when you registered, it’s time to file a claim with Protecht/Fanshield.
If you need to make a relay team member change, please contact Race Roster at support@raceroster.com to complete the transfer. You can also call Race Roster’s Customer Services team at 855-969-5515 Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm EST and Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 3pm EST. The support team at Race Roster will get all the info they need from you and make the team member change. If you have any difficulty hearing back from Race Roster, please send an email to director@illinoismarathon.com
We are using cutting-edge, dynamic bib assigning this year, which will speed up our race number pickup process quite a bit. On Tuesday, April 23, 2024 we will email each entrant a unique QR code—instead of a specific race number, as in the past. Print and bring to the expo a copy of your QR code (or show it to us on your phone) to be assigned and receive your race number.
Packet pick-up takes place at the expo at the University of Illinois Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), 201 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL, 61820. Consult the parking map to see your parking options.
The Body n Sole Health & Fitness Expo and Packet Pick-Up take place Thursday, April 25, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Friday, April 26, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. You can pick up your race packet (race number, race shirt, and drawstring backpack) either day.
Bring the QR code THAT WILL BE EMAILED TO YOU ON Tuesday, APRIL 23, either in print or on your phone. If you don’t have it, our race number distribution volunteers can look you up on their computers.
We have had a few requests from individuals who did not receive their QR code. Marathon Relay and Youth Runners will not be receiving a QR code and received a separate email with packet pick up info. Please check your spam and promotions folder if you still cannot find it. Rest assured your name will work just fine at race number pick up.
You can check your confirmation at this link and print your registration.
We communicate with our entrants by e-mail. Please add “director@illinoismarathon.com and noreply@enmotive.com” to your whitelist or address book to keep our race messages out of your spam filter.
Yes. If you plan to pick up a race packet for someone else, which is allowed, you must have a copy of that person’s QR code (paper copy or on your phone).
We offer LATE packet pick-up at Body n’ Sole Sports, 1317 N Dunlap Ave (Rt 45), Savoy, IL from 7:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, April 26, for those entrants who cannot get to the expo before it closes at 7:00 p.m. We will also have emergency packet pick-up in the Great West Hall of Memorial Stadium on Saturday, April 27, from 5:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. If you let us know by Thursday, April 25 at 11:59 pm that you will be coming to late packet pickup, we will have your race shirt available, in addition to your race number, and goody bag. Complete this form to give us this information. If you miss the deadline, we will have your race number and goody bag only. We would be happy to mail your race shirt to you after race weekend, however. Please bring a check or money order for $5.00 (made payable to C-U Marathon, LLC) to late packet pick-up to cover the cost of postage.
Race Day
Consult the parking map to see your parking options.
If you are in the marathon or half marathon, your commemorative Illinois Race Weekend drawstring backpack is your drop bag (no luggage or paper bags). Put inside your backpack any clothing that you want after the race. Use a safety pin to attach the gear bag check from the bottom of your race number to your bag and place it in the appropriately marked Ryder truck on the west side of the State Farm Center, north of the starting line. Gear check opens at 5:30 a.m. After your race, you can pick up your drop bag in the Great West Hall at Memorial Stadium, the same area where the postrace food is located. Bag drop/retrieval is not available for marathon relay, 10K, 5K, or youth run participants due to the short length of these events.
We allow walkers in all events but the Mile and the Marathon.
Headphones, earbuds, and so on are discouraged, for your safety and others around you. Runners should be alert to their surroundings and able to hear course volunteers and other runners.
We can allow strollers in the 5K Run/Walk only, and as long as you are walking and start in the last corral. Strollers will start right ahead of those walking without strollers. If you are pushing a child in a stroller, you must WALK and not RUN. We do not allow pets in any of our events.
The marathon, half marathon, and relay start at the same time (@ 7:33 am; the 10K has its own start at 8:00am). To lessen overcrowding on the course, runners start in waves based on pace. Runners are assigned to their waves based on their estimated finish times, specified during registration. Learn more on the Wave Start page
To lessen overcrowding on the 5K course, we have a wave start. When entrants register for the 5K, they will pick one of the estimated finish times below:
- 25:00 & faster
- 25:01 to 31:00
- 31:01 to 37:00
- 37:01 to 43:00
- 43:01 & slower
- Girls on the run
- Just here to have fun
- Walkers (of any pace), all strollers, and Team Noah entrants
Your corral will be printed on your bib number. The fastest runners are assigned to the first wave and occupy the first start corral. After these runners have cleared the start line, the next corral moves up to the starting line. After a predetermined interval, the second wave starts and so on.
The 10K has its own start time, at 8:00am. Runners are assigned to their waves based on their estimated finish times, specified during registration.
Yes. For more information, see the pace teams information page.
The Mile starts at 7:30pm on Thursday, April 25. The 5K starts at 7:30pm on Friday, April 26. The wheelchair half marathon starts at 7:31am on Saturday April 27. The marathon, half marathon, and relay start at 7:33am on Saturday April 27. The 10K starts at 8:00am on Saturday April 27. The Youth Run starts at 3:00pm on Saturday, April 27. The cancellation date for the Youth Run is Sunday, April 28.
There are 16 hydration stations on the marathon course (7 of which are also available for the half marathoners.) Hydration stations will be stocked with water (all stations) lemon lime Nuun Endurance (15 stations), and GUs (at miles 6.75, mile 13.5, mile 17, and mile 21). The GU station will have Vanilla Bean, Strawberry-Banana, Chocolate Outrage, and Salted Caramel GU. All flavors of GU have caffeine except strawberry-banana. Nuun Sport and water will be served on the 5K course on Friday night.
Portable toilets are located along the race route, approximately every mile. The start line area of the race will also have many portable toilets.
The time limit for traffic control on the course is a 3:30 finish time for the half marathon. If you are still on the course after the time limit, you will be asked to move onto the sidewalk and you will need to exercise caution because the course will be open to traffic
The time limit for completing the marathon course is 6:00 hours after the start of the last wave. If you find that you cannot finish the marathon within the 6:00-hour time limit, our bike marshals will help you connect with one of our sag wagons for a ride back to Memorial Stadium. Plan ahead. If you know you cannot complete the marathon distance in 6:00 hours or less, you should register for one of the shorter distance events we offer on race weekend (half marathon, 10K, 5K, marathon relay).
Yes. Meet up outside the entrance to the stadium and come in together. Be courteous to marathoners who are finishing at the same time and who will probably be a lot more tired than you will be.
I-Challenge finishers pick up their I-Challenge medals on the field at Memorial Stadium. Bibs of I-Challengers will be coded to identify runners as I-Challenge entrants.
Meet your family after the race in the horseshoe bleachers of Memorial Stadium. Look for a large sail banner that says MEET ME ZONE. Spectators are not allowed on the field.
After the Race
We welcome your feedback on any aspect of our event. Watch for our official runner survey.
We know it is difficult to go up stairs after a long run. Unfortunately for runners, we are not allowed to have food on the turf. (It could have been worse; we could have made you go down stairs to get the food.)
Contact our timing company at kyle@enmotive.com.
If you win an age group award, it will be mailed via the US Postal Service within 8 to 10 weeks after the race. The age group awards are personalized to each winner, so they take a long time to complete.
GPS devices are not as accurate as many runners believe. Even if you had a perfectly accurate GPS device, you should expect it to record a distance slightly longer than the official length. When you factor in the crowds and the water stops, it is nearly impossible to run the shortest possible path that the course certifier takes when measuring. In fact, if your GPS ever gives you the precise official length of the race, it is most likely that either your device is off or the course is short. GPS gadgets that sample position infrequently, on the other hand, will cut off corners and record a shorter distance than you actually ran.
Working with our photography partner (EnPhoto), digital photos will be available to all race finishers right on your personal results page and they are YOURS to keep, share, and print, to your hearts’ content! To support this race perk, $1.00 was added to the price of each paid registration.
If we have still have shirts available in the size you would like, we would be happy to send you a shirt in your requested size. You can use this link goodie problems to make your request.
When you order as many thousands of shirts and medals as we did, you inevitably have a few slip through that should not. Tell us your goodie problems, and we’ll make it better.
If you preregistered for one of our events, but were unable to attend, we will be happy to mail your shirt to you. Please send a letter requesting your shirt and include a check in the amount of $5.15 (for shipping) to: Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon, P.O. Box 262, Champaign, IL 61824.
Our 2024 race weekend will be Thursday, April 25 through Saturday, April 27.
Registration for our 2024 race weekend will open in late June 2023.
Maybe you registered with a different e-mail address, or mistyped it. It happens! Try adding director@illinoismarathon.com to your contact list or your spam filter’s whitelist.
The date of our event is largely out of our hands. Our fantastic hosts at the University of Illinois and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics have numerous events taking place during the spring, and we cooperate with them in every way we can. Those U of I events include, among others, Mom’s Day and the Spring Football Game (held at Memorial Stadium, of course). The very end of April seems to be when there is an opening for us.
