This year’s coordinator for the St. Jude Runs is Hannah Dutton. Born Hannah Cox, she is a hometown girl who went to Chillicothe schools and graduated from IVC in 2004. After graduation, she went to Bradley and got her teaching degree. She taught at Dunlap for 13 years and is now the curriculum coordinator for Dunlap. Hannah is married to David Dutton and they have two children—Ellie, 12, and Haddie, 9.

Hannah says she was a casual runner, but always just watched the runners and cheered them on for years. In 2016, her daughter was in a class at school with Kacer Holloway, who was going through cancer treatments. It was then that the run began to be personal; she knew it was time to get involved and begin to join the runners. She ran that year and was hooked and has been running every year since.   

She and Rick Lingenfelter had been co-coordinators of the run for the last few years, and last year, Rick handed the run off into the much capable hands of Hannah to coordinate the run. Hannah says she appreciated how much Rick and his wife Pam poured themselves into our team. “I thought I was just doing some good by fundraising for St. Jude, but I was wrong…I was joining a family I didn’t know I needed.”

St. Jude Runs began in Chillicothe when, following the loss of his son Brad to cancer, Jeff Wallin, together with Tara Kilmer, formed the first Chillicothe to Peoria St. Jude Runs team. The goal was the same then as it is now: raise as much money and awareness as possible for the kids and the families of St. Jude. That first year in 2005, there were only 11 runners. The team grew, and each year so did the money. By 2008, they had over 50 runners and raised over $50,000. In 2009, Tara stepped away, and Jeff Wallin took over the lead coordinator position while continuing to grow the Brad Wallin Memorial Tournament. Rick Lingenfelter was co-coordinator with Tony Moore managing the money.

The years from 2010 to 2019 were pretty incredible. 2010 saw the runners collect over $100,000 for the first time. In 2012, with 91 runners, they raised $185,000, and one year later, with 121 runners, they raised an astounding $262,000! By 2016, Chillicothe was the second highest fundraising team, only trailing second to the Memphis to Peoria team. Other teams know…that Chillicothe has evolved into a fundraising force to be reckoned with!

Hannah says, “There is so much that goes into the run. We start planning for the next run the day after the last one is over.”  The course from Chillicothe to Peoria is 55.6 miles. They start running at 6am and finish between 4–6pm at the Peoria Civic Center. Anyone can sign up to run, and you can run as little or as much as you want. The team runs at the pace of the slowest runner, so they all stay together.

Each runner must raise a minimum of $1,250 to participate, but many runners raise much more. If anyone needs help fundraising, the other runners always help them out.

There are 25 legs of the course with transition points throughout, and there is a police escort and a van that is always with the runners along the route. Some runners just do a few miles, but some runners regularly run upwards of 33 miles. The farthest a runner has run was 44 miles. No one has ever run the whole 55.6-mile course. Hannah says she usually runs about 20 miles. She tells us, “The energy and excitement of the day carries you through the run.”

Hannah says they keep expenses for the run to almost nothing, so Chillicothe can give the biggest check possible to the kids at St. Jude. “Almost everything is donated from the vehicles, to the food, the water, and anything else they need. This community comes through big time each and every year. There are hundreds of people that step up and get involved.”

Watch for fundraisers around the town. There are garage sales, lemonade stands, progressive dinners, mushroom sales, bake sales, car washes, and more. This year South School put on a Laps for Life event. Their goal was to raise $5,000, and they raised $10,800! Another fundraiser was the spectacular “Lakeshore Light Show” in Woodland Heights around Christmas that Dave and Lisa Motter put on. They have their mailbox set up for donations, or you can go on their site and give online. All this money goes to the  St. Jude Run and is presented during the Telethon at the Civic Center. Last year, our humble town, with the run and the ball tournament combined, presented a check for $555,020 to St. Jude Research Hospital. Over half a million dollars!

2024 was the last year for the Brad Wallin Tournament, so the runners will be out in full force, raising money this year. The run and the Telethon is on August 2nd.

You can find out more about the run on their Facebook page at: chillicothestjuderun or go to [email protected]  It’s still not too late to sign up to run or to support a runner. Make a donation and go out and cheer on the runners and they go by.

Since that first run, our community has seen too many kids added to the roster of the St. Jude kids, but more are surviving and thriving these days, thanks to all the money raised around the country that goes into research.

Hannah leaves us with this: “It is challenging to find the words to sum up the Chillicothe St. Jude Run. I think it is because what we all take away from the day is something bigger than the events of just that day, the magic we all feel is the product of something that began all those years ago. I’ve been part of this community my whole life, and I have witnessed how our small town shows up for St. Jude kids and families, not just with dollars, but with true generosity, compassion, and support.”

Thank you, Hannah, for stepping up and taking over this labor of love.