Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Nancy Varga shares updates on the 2026 Reagan Run 5K

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Talk Line: Nancy Varga shares updates on the 2026 Reagan Run 5K · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back, Sock Valley. You're here with the Waking crew
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty wixn
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's eight fifteen on your Tuesday morning, and that means
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  Speaker 1: it's time for talk line and I'm joined in the
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  Speaker 1: booth here to bring some fantastic news and information something
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  Speaker 1: that I don't think most of us are unfamiliar with,
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  Speaker 1: but you might be because I only run for the
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  Speaker 1: dinner bell, and that's the Reagan Run five K. Nancy
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  Speaker 1: Varga is here to give us all the updates and
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  Speaker 1: information that you could need on this Nancy, how are
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  Speaker 1: you this morning?
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  Speaker 2: Well, good morning, and I'm fine and interesting. You run
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  Speaker 2: for the dinner bell. I tell people the only time
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  Speaker 2: I run is if somebody's chasing me.
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  Speaker 1: Depends how tired I am that day. Nancy, there you go.
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  Speaker 1: I might just lay out, Dan, lay down.
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  Speaker 3: And give up. Help you doing me a favor. That's right,
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  Speaker 3: that's right.
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  Speaker 2: So well, we appreciate you guys having us on the air.
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  Speaker 2: We've done this with you guys for twenty six years,
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  Speaker 2: and you help us to get the inform out about
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  Speaker 2: the race, which this year is on Saturday, July fourth
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  Speaker 2: and so typically that brings our numbers a lot higher
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  Speaker 2: because it does fall on a weekend, so people take
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  Speaker 2: that long weekend, that long holiday.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm real happy to say.
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  Speaker 2: We're over one thousand runners already.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're excited about that. We're back obviously to
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  Speaker 2: the pre COVID numbers that we've had, and last year
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  Speaker 2: we had thirteen hundred runners. We're hoping this year that
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  Speaker 2: we can reach that fourteen hundred level, if not more. So.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're well on your way. The streets are going
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  Speaker 1: to be alive with the sounds of sneakers. Yeah, come
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  Speaker 1: to fourth, But that's fantastic. I mean, don't get me wrong,
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  Speaker 1: I understand why so many people love this. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know why some of you are so psychotic that you
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  Speaker 1: love running, but I understand why you love this event.
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  Speaker 1: This is something that even if you're not a runner,
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  Speaker 1: if you want to walk and be part of all
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  Speaker 1: the fun, that you're absolutely able to do right, Oh.
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  Speaker 4: For sure, for sure.
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  Speaker 2: And even if you don't want to run or walk,
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  Speaker 2: come and be a spectator cheer these people on. It's
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  Speaker 2: been amazing to us the number of people that do
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  Speaker 2: come out to watch this race. I think the best
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  Speaker 2: place is to watch it like an hindpan right across
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  Speaker 2: from the Police and City Department. So yeah, come out
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  Speaker 2: and check it out right now. You can register online
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  Speaker 2: at run sign up dot com only twenty five dollars.
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  Speaker 2: I do want to make sure people realize that you
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  Speaker 2: can only do that until July second at three pm,
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  Speaker 2: so just be aware. Online registration will close down on
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  Speaker 2: the second. But that's okay because you can still write
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  Speaker 2: out one of those pay per forms drop it off
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  Speaker 2: at the YMCA. You can also come and join us
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  Speaker 2: at the YMC July third.
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  Speaker 4: We start at eleven am.
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  Speaker 2: We go to five pm sharp, and people can come
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  Speaker 2: pick up their packets and their T shirt that day.
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  Speaker 2: They can also register that day, and then we are
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  Speaker 2: gluttons for punishment because we'll keep on taking those registrations
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  Speaker 2: on race day itself on July fourth at Haymarket Square.
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  Speaker 2: Now that's important to note because the start line's at
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  Speaker 2: the Reagan Home, So if you want to register day
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  Speaker 2: of race, or if you want to pick up your
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  Speaker 2: packet that morning, you're going to come to Haymarket Square.
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  Speaker 2: We start at six thirty and we go till about
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  Speaker 2: seven forty five, where you can register and or pick
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  Speaker 2: up that packet. And the good news is is you
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  Speaker 2: don't have to race up to the start line. We
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  Speaker 2: do have golf carts to take people up there.
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  Speaker 3: That's fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: You know when you were mentioning that people could also
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  Speaker 1: be a spectator, that's a really really great thing to mention.
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  Speaker 3: Get out there and support.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be honest for a minute, I was hoping you
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  Speaker 1: were going to say, if you didn't want to run
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  Speaker 1: or walk, you could be hearted by. But you've got
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  Speaker 1: some golf carts, so maybe I can pay somebody to
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  Speaker 1: just golf me along the way. But this is fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: What can people expect day of the race? What should
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  Speaker 1: they you know, maybe any some tips arrive Probably you
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  Speaker 1: want to ride a little early.
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  Speaker 2: Right, well, you know, we always suggest you arrive early.
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  Speaker 2: But it's amazing to me the number of people that
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  Speaker 2: come to the start line and they're like, I have
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  Speaker 2: to quick pick up my packet, and it's like it's
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  Speaker 2: at a market. So yeah, if you can come early,
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  Speaker 2: be prepared. We usually start about five till we have
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  Speaker 2: the quartet singing for us from the Dixon High School
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  Speaker 2: for the national anthem this year, so I'm excited about that,
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  Speaker 2: and I wish I had their names right in front
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  Speaker 2: of me, and I can only remember a few, so
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  Speaker 2: I won't mention any, but we're we're proud of them.
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  Speaker 2: So that starts. Then Dave Blackburn always gives some of
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  Speaker 2: those instructions, and eight o'clock me and those everybody's off. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: So in the fun Run, we do have a fun run,
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  Speaker 2: and that starts at seven point thirty and people can
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  Speaker 2: register at the Reagan Home for that fun run.
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  Speaker 1: So okay, there you go. They've given you multiple options.
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  Speaker 1: If you're a procrastinator, you can even come day of
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  Speaker 1: and be part of the race. And you know, this
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  Speaker 1: is always such a fantastic event, but.
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  Speaker 3: It's kind of a little extra special.
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  Speaker 1: This year due to the course itself.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, thank you for mentioning that. I do want
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  Speaker 2: people to know that. The first part of the course
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  Speaker 2: is the same. You're starting at the Reagan Home. You're
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  Speaker 2: going down Hinnepin Avenue, You're going to turn it first Street,
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  Speaker 2: then you're going to go across on Peoria Avenue Bridge
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  Speaker 2: up behind the High School cafeteria, up by the old
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  Speaker 2: Race Tire service, and then just a short distance on
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  Speaker 2: Palmyra and back down on Veil where Veil Drive, and
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  Speaker 2: then that's where right at the bandshell, they're going to
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  Speaker 2: pick up this beautiful new sidewalk that between the city
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  Speaker 2: the park District, all entities involved have made this beautiful
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  Speaker 2: path through Page Park and we'll have a lot of
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  Speaker 2: spots there for people so that they know where they're going.
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  Speaker 2: But they're going to go on Page, not on Page
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  Speaker 2: Park Drive, but on this sidewalk and stay adjacent to
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  Speaker 2: Page Park. And then they'll turn at the basketball courts
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  Speaker 2: and go back up into what used to be the
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  Speaker 2: wooded path area. Sorry, folks, no more wooded area. It's
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  Speaker 2: all beautiful paved pathways, go up the hill and then
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  Speaker 2: they'll go over to the pedestrian bridge where they'll hike
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  Speaker 2: across that and beautiful.
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  Speaker 4: It's just beautiful to be on.
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  Speaker 2: Top of that, and then hit the walking path to
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  Speaker 2: seventh and kind of curve around to Highland Avenue, end
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  Speaker 2: up at Haymarket Square. It's going to be a fast course,
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  Speaker 2: so it'll be interesting to see what that finished time.
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  Speaker 4: Is this year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it really will. You can't no excuse for
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  Speaker 1: getting lost. They've got human GPS along the way to
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  Speaker 1: direct you. But it's an absolutely fantastic addition. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: everybody had been waiting for the new pedestrian bridge done.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and say, I believe it's Petunia crossing.
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  Speaker 1: If I've gotten that run, the mayor will definitely let
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  Speaker 1: me know when he's back in here.
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  Speaker 4: Oh okay, good, because I wasn't going to take the
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  Speaker 4: challenge on that one.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah me, and I'm going to I like to gamble, baby,
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw the dice on there and let Glenn
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  Speaker 1: let me know whether I busted or if the house
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  Speaker 1: is gonna pay me.
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  Speaker 4: That's good.
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  Speaker 1: But really, it's a beautiful bridge. It's a beautiful site
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  Speaker 1: going over the river. You know, you've got the view
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  Speaker 1: of the high school and everything. I mean, it's just fantastic,
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  Speaker 1: just making such a great event even better. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: this kind of thing isn't possible without the sponsors that
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  Speaker 1: y'all are able to garner along the way.
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  Speaker 4: And that's so true.
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  Speaker 2: We have sponsors, you know, at all sorts of levels,
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  Speaker 2: but each makes a difference to us. And we have
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  Speaker 2: people that donate you know, we have people that donate water.
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  Speaker 2: There are sponsors and they help to make this happen,
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  Speaker 2: so a huge thank you to them. We've got the
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  Speaker 2: Telegraph that has been our major sponsor for all twenty
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  Speaker 2: six years, and then we have OSF Healthcare and Auto Doc.
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  Speaker 2: Those are our three main sponsors. But again everybody makes
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  Speaker 2: a difference and it's because of them that we are
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  Speaker 2: able to give money to four main not for profit organizations,
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  Speaker 2: and those people are the Dickson Athletic Booster Club. They
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  Speaker 2: provide all that human GPS for us on the course,
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  Speaker 2: along with some manpower from those young students to help
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  Speaker 2: me load trailers, to help my husband load water, get
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  Speaker 2: that into the high school cooler to chill. We have
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  Speaker 2: discovered Dixon because this came about. It was birth through
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  Speaker 2: Dixon Main Street, and so we always want to honor
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  Speaker 2: them and the many events that they do that continue
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  Speaker 2: to help our downtown be a great revitalized area the
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  Speaker 2: Dixon Park District. What would we do without them? Man,
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  Speaker 2: They've worked with us every single year again helping us
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  Speaker 2: carve out courses. James Lilliman's our course manager. He tells
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  Speaker 2: me this course he's had to rearrange it, if you will,
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  Speaker 2: I think a dozen times, maybe a few more. So
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  Speaker 2: thank God too for him, and then the YMCA Strong
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  Speaker 2: Kids Program, So those are our four major benefactors. We
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  Speaker 2: also give to Firefighters Association, the Police Association. A few
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  Speaker 2: more are trickled in there. So all the money we make,
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  Speaker 2: we keep seed money, which is about nine or ten
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars to start this race, and then everything else
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  Speaker 2: goes out to these people. Today given over four hundred
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  Speaker 2: thousand to.
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  Speaker 3: These folks, so that's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're real happy about that. We also give out
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  Speaker 2: six scholarships at five hundred each. We've done that since
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  Speaker 2: twenty fifteen and to date that's totaled about thirty thousand.
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  Speaker 2: So again, thank you to the sponsors, thank you to
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  Speaker 2: the volunteers. Thank you to my body Geake committee who
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: kid me because I tell them once they get on,
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  Speaker 2: they can't get off, and for the most part it's true.
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  Speaker 2: I don't tell anybody that when they first jump on.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's been a great core group and again,
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  Speaker 2: these people work hard, so a huge thank you to
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  Speaker 2: them too.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a big thank you to everyone involved in every way,
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  Speaker 1: no matter where how deep you've had your fingers in this.
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  Speaker 1: It's a fantastic local event benefiting the local community. So
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if you needed any more reason to get
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  Speaker 1: out there and be a part of this, you are
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  Speaker 1: supporting your local community. You're going to have a fantastic
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  Speaker 1: time with everybody, you know. I always love seeing the
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  Speaker 1: pictures that would come through from Shaw of the race
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  Speaker 1: day and how happy everybody looks. I want to ask
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  Speaker 1: what their secret is when they're in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: like mile three.
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  Speaker 4: But right, maybe not quite as happy at that point.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Some folks just got some big old grins and I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: we're eating some different cereal there, I need your weedies?
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sure, but no, it is. It's just a
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  Speaker 1: fantastic time. Everybody's happy and yeah, and then it's just
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  Speaker 1: the fourth one. You're done already. I mean, there's so
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  Speaker 1: much going on around the community as it is.
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  Speaker 4: What's great.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we are a separate entity from the Petunia Festival,
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  Speaker 2: but without them, they too help us, and we like
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  Speaker 2: to think that they bring people to our race and
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  Speaker 2: we bring people out to the festival itself. So we
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: usually have gosh, well over twenty states represented.
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  Speaker 4: I haven't looked at that yet.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Sometimes more than just the US, we have another country
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  Speaker 2: that's represented, so so does bring a lot of people in.
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  Speaker 2: And I think the reason people are still laughing at
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  Speaker 2: that mile three is because they've seen Mike Lahy. He's
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: been our mile marker two and yell them out their
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: times and always dresses up in something different. So that
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  Speaker 2: alone brings you to come on, guys, join.
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  Speaker 3: Us and enough to see lady.
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  Speaker 4: That's right, Yeah, yeah, do it.
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  Speaker 3: So I love it. I love it.
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  Speaker 1: Uh you know there you have it, folks. You're you're
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: able to get tickets online, You're able to do or
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  Speaker 1: register online. You're able to do this in person. Nancy's
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  Speaker 1: given you everything. But if you know, somebody says, I
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  Speaker 1: need more information, I need to talk to somebody need
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: to reread it, rethink this over.
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  Speaker 3: What's the best way to do it.
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  Speaker 2: You can give me a call at the eight one
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  Speaker 2: five nine six one zero six.
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  Speaker 4: You can take a look at the brochures.
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  Speaker 2: They're at participating sponsors, a lot of local businesses.
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  Speaker 4: Downtown the YMCA.
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  Speaker 2: So whatever you need, we're here to answer your questions
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  Speaker 2: and how help you figure things out.
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  Speaker 3: I love it again. There's always no excuse.
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  Speaker 1: There's always a way online in person, Nancy, while we
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: got a second anything else we forgot to cover I
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: don't think so.
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  Speaker 4: I just want to make sure that people know that
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  Speaker 4: to register.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, it is twenty five dollars on race day,
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  Speaker 2: it will go to thirty five. We've tried to keep
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: our prices as low as we can because our objective
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: has always been a healthy event and to bring family
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: and friends together, and in order to do that, you
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: got to keep that price at a decent, decent air number.
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  Speaker 2: So twenty five dollars now through July third again online
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  Speaker 2: is going to end July second, race day, though we
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: still want you if you hop up and decide this
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  Speaker 2: is a beautiful day, it's only thirty five dollars, come
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  Speaker 2: and register at Haymarket Square.
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  Speaker 1: There you go even day of you can be a
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  Speaker 1: part of it. But I think it's only proper that
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: early birds get the worm. Nancy, Yeah right, Nancy. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for coming and sharing all this fantastic
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: information and all the wonderful work that you and everyone
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: else does putting this event together.
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  Speaker 3: We really appreciate it and look forward to it every year.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate Shaw Media allowing us this opportunity and
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: others to get the word out.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: So have a great day,