Top of the Morning, April 29, 2024
Apr. 28—The first full Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend in five years wasn't without its challenges.
But the thousands who turned out along the course and at Memorial Stadium on Saturday probably didn't realize that an email spelling the race's cancellation was typed out and ready to send at 10 p.m. Friday.
Campus protests had forced the postponement of the 5K event earlier that evening and called into doubt whether enough law enforcement would be available to staff the course.
"We had a finger on the send button," race director Jan Seeley said. "We got a call from (Champaign police Chief Timothy Tyler), and he's on the phone with the head of state police, and we hear about (J.B.) Pritzker getting involved and Julia Rietz getting involved."
Assistance from state officials in the 11th hour sparked a realization for Seeley.
"Higher people wanted this event to happen. Our takeaway is that our event has tremendous value in the eyes of really important people in our community and in the state."
In Seeley's estimation, a canceled marathon would have likely spelled the event's demise.
Instead, organizers are searching for a makeup date for the 5K, and many of the some 10,200 runners registered for the weekend turned out for the main event.
Saturday's races weren't without incident. Around 9:30 a.m., a male runner in his late 40s suffered cardiac arrest while running through Meadowbrook Park in Urbana. A group of four runners performed CPR until a joint group of Champaign and Urbana firefighters arrived, saving his life in the process.
"He was dead, and they revived him," Seeley said, adding that the individual is recovering at a local hospital.
