Here is the information to sign-up online for the marathon aid station and below are a few details on what will happen race day.

It’s quick and easy, just click this link: Illinois Marathon Volunteer Sign-up, select “Grace Community Church” for the Group Name, and enter the password: findinggrace

You will be asked to fill out a form, including shirt size for your volunteer shirt, and that’s it! You will receive a confirmation e-mail after signing up. Everyone needs to sign up individually, this lets the marathon organizers know that the aid station will be fully staffed and makes sure you get a t-shirt in the correct size : )

Some details…
The Illinois Marathon is Saturday May 1st, 2010.   We are at the same site as last year (north side of Kirby, just west of Duncan), but due to course changes our aid station is mile 19.1 (last year we were mile 15).   We should have a schedule similar to last year.  The runners have 4 more miles to reach our aid station, but the race starts a half hour earlier, so we should see our first runner at 9:15-9:30 and the last one somewhere around 12:30.  The crazy busy time will be about 10-11 and we should be cleaned up and done by 1:00. If your schedule is tight and you are able to help during the busy time (10-11), that would be great.  We will need some people to come early to setup, so let me know if you can do this (7:30-8ish).

If you have any questions, please come talk to me. That’s about it. Sign-up, it will be a blast!!

Terry

There are several local athletes currently competing in the 2008 Paralympics in Bejing, including our very own coach Mike “Frog” Frogley. Grace Community had originally planned to host live video of the gold medal games for both women’s and men’s wheelchair basketball. But due to the recent bad weather we decided to encourage you to view these events on your own. The most interesting live coverage is early of a morning this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Below are links and details for viewing these live events from your computer.

Live Internet Video Coverage:
http://www.paralympicsport.tv/
http://www.universalsports.com/

Monday, Sept 15
8:30a Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Gold Medal US vs Germany
The US women’s team features several athletes and coaches from the University of Illinois.

Tuesday, Sept 16
6:30a Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Gold Medal Canada vs Australia
7:00a Wheelchair Rugby Final

Wednesday, Sept 17
7:00a Closing Ceremony

Live Internet Video Coverage:
http://www.paralympicsport.tv/
http://www.universalsports.com/

There are 20 University of Illinois students, alumni, and coaches represented in this year’s Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball, including our very own Steve Serio (US) and Mike Frogley (CAN).

For more information, here are a few more websites to check out:

Mike Frogley’s Blog:
http://blog.chicago2016.org/index.php/author/mfrogley/

University of Illinois Paralympic News:
http://ahs.uiuc.edu/news/paralympic.htm

Bejing 2008 Paralympic Games:
http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/index.shtml

Wheelchair Basketball Schedule (-13 hours for CDT):
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRMP/ENG/Schedule/WB.shtml

ParalympicSport.tv Live Coverage (-13 hours for CDT)
http://player26.narrowstep.tv/assets/players/3206/html/player.html

Universal Sports Coverage Schedule (-1 hour for CDT)
http://www.universalsports.com//SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=&SPID=13327&SPSID=107950

Tickets are now on sale for Bright Lights Theatre Company’s performance of Miracle on 34th Street.

Performances are on December 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, & 23 at Grace Community. Tickets and more information are available online at Bright Light’s website — http://www.brightlightstheatre.org/.

Volunteers from Grace Community are still needed to help host this event. Contact the Grace offices ASAP if you or your small group are interested in helping on one or more of these dates.