Course Entertainment

We plan to have a full slate of musicians, cheerleaders, and other performers to boost your spirit as you run.

Call for Entertainers

For those of you who participated as on-course entertainment during past races, you already know how much fun this can be. Others may have a second-hand understanding of the fun, as you watched one of the various races from the vantage point of a nearby band, team of cheerleaders, or our old buddy Elvis. And then there are those of you who just have good sense when looking for opportunities for fun.

Once again we are seeking entertainers to join us. Our goal is to make next year even better and to ensure that our entertainment team has as much fun as anyone on the course.

Entertainers can be bands of various musical tastes, from rock oldies to country-western to Grateful Dead-jam and high-school bands. Musicians can be single performers (think bagpipes and drummers) to multi-person groups (such as jazz combos or ethnic musical troupes).

This year, we’d like to add to the mix school marching and performance bands (runners pass several Champaign-Urbana schools, including the University of Illinois) and entertainment (jugglers? unicyclists? Medieval-combat characters?).

And, the more cheerleaders the better. Runners appreciate hearing from people who really know how to cheer.

Final selection of entertainment will be based on the needs of the event and availability of appropriate locations for placement along the course. For example, rock bands might be restricted from certain residential parts of the course and school properties reserved for their marching or performance bands.

All musicians are expected to volunteer their services. Also, where electrical power is required but unavailable, preference will be given to those entertainers that supply their own generator for power. Finally, our 2010 entertainers will be our first choice for participants and course-location assignments.

Sign-up of entertainers for the 2011 event is now in progress and will be completed by April 1, 2011. But remember, there are limits to the number of available on-course locations for entertainment. Signing up sooner will better ensure your participation.

To sign up or learn more, please contact: Patrick Mills, Entertainment Coordinator, pat@illinoismarathon.com.

When signing up, please provide a contact name, email address and telephone number; along with the number of individuals in your group and their shirt sizes (for their complimentary Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon volunteer T-shirt).

As we sign up performers, we will add information here, including links to samples of their performances.