UIC cheers on thousands of runners in Chicago Marathon

On Sunday morning, Oct. 12, UIC students and other members of the UIC community gathered along Halsted and Taylor streets to cheer on the thousands of runners striving and sweating to finish the Chicago Marathon. The 26-mile course passed through campus at mile 17.5, at the official UIC Cheer Zone, just after the challenging uphill I-290 overpass.  

Fifty-three thousand runners participated in this year’s race, according to local media. 

As runners approached the UIC Cheer Zone, they were welcomed by a giant inflatable Sparky, lively anthems from the UIC Pep Band, energetic beats of the percussion ensemble and chants of encouragement from the UIC Spirit Squad. Sparky joined in the festivities by dancing, posing for photos with runners and motivating them. Students from various organizations, including Student Leadership and Civic Engagement and UIC Athletics, shouted phrases like “Keep going!” and “You got this!” through megaphones and held bright neon signs to encourage the runners through the second half of the race. 

Encouraging runners from the Cheer Zone wasn’t the only way UIC students participated in the marathon. About 54 applied health sciences students were stationed at the end of the race and in a few spots along the course to offer psychological first aid to any runner who needed it. The students — undergraduate kinesiology students and graduate students in UIC’s performance sport and exercise psychology program — get hands-on experience by volunteering at the marathon, said Meredith Wekesser, clinical assistant professor in the department of kinesiology and nutrition.

“Volunteering for one of the world’s largest marathons is invaluable,” Wekesser said. “Students learned how to care for runners psychologically pre- and post-race. Their interventions ranged anywhere from 30 seconds to 90 minutes, allowing them to help hundreds of participants. Student volunteers from previous years have even gone on to run marathons themselves because they were so inspired by the runners and their stories.”