Runners Brave Winter's Final Fury as Chicago Racing Circuit Warms Up

Circuit Recap- March 2025

The 2025 Chicago Racing Circuit is officially underway! This year’s season was kicked off with the March Madness Half Marathon on St. Patrick's Day weekend, followed by Shamrock Shuffle 8k on March 23rd. 

Last year was one of the most exciting team competitions the Circuit has seen in a while, and this year promises to up the ante, with 19 clubs chasing titles. Newcomers to the Circuit include Gold Coast Run Club out of Chicago’s Near North Side, Black Chicago Runner Run Club primarily operating out of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods, Los Lobos out of Rockford, Illinois and Dick Pond Racing Team based across the Chicago suburbs. All 4 of these teams will be joining the Division II level.

This season will also see the resurgence of some of DII clubs, as Oiselle, Lake Shore Park, and CARA Run Crew spent the off season restructuring and building up their rosters.

March Madness Half Marathon

It’s been a while since the Circuit visited Cary Illinois, our last scheduled tour of March Madness was cancelled in 2020. However, this race has a long-standing history with CARA, dating all the way back to 1987 where it was an early season favorite.

*Circuit Races in bold

March Madness is a challenging course. With non-stop hills, it’s a perfect indicator race for those racing the Boston Marathon. This particular race day was made all the more challenging thanks to temperatures in the low 30’s, high winds, and heavy snowfall. 

The men’s race was won by hometown favorite Karson Hollander in a time of 1:13:12. Circuit competitors filled out much of the top-10 with Dan Lennington of Evanston in 5th, Ivan Yank of Fast Track in 6th, and Dan Pettitt & Sam LeVon from the CARA Racing Team finishing 7th & 10th.

The age group competition was also dominated by Circuit runners with Axel Munoz of Venados, Nate John from Dick Pond Racing, Ken Schuch from CARA Racing Team, and CARA member Bernard McGourty all securing age group wins.

On the women’s side, Loyola Alumni Sophia Manners pulled away from Milwaukee’s Molly Woodford in the final miles of the race to secure a 35 second victory, running 1:21:15. Andrea Peters from Naperville Running Company TC was the first Circuit competitor to cross the line in 1:25:05 for 3rd place. CARA Member Calista Stefaniak finished 5th, Fast Track’s Katalin Anstandig in 6th, and Fleet Feet’s Melanie Pozdol in 10th.

Evance Stalley from CARA Racing Team, CARA Member Angie Dudman, and Evanston’s Nancy Rollins all ran away with age group wins.

Shamrock Shuffle 8k

The Shamrock Shuffle saw every Circuit team spring into action. While not a perfect indicator, the Deloitte Team Challenge offers a solid glance into how the team standings will shake out.

Nameless, DW, and Windrunners all submitted teams for the Elite Women’s category. Nameless led the way, finishing second overall in the team challenge, just 13 seconds away from toppling the professional team Hansons-Brooks ODP. Nameless was led by Ashley Heidenrich’s 7th place finish. Heidenrich was not only Nameless’s top runner, but also the first Circuit Runner to cross the line. 

DW finished 4th, and Windrunner’s A-team finished in 9th. DW’s finish was phenomenal with 3 women under 28:00. However, they will have to wait for final circuit results to be tabulated before celebrating a win over the Windrunners. The Deloitte team challenge only scores 4 runners and forces teams to break into smaller squads. If Windrunners had a strong number 5 running “unattached” or with their B roster, they could upset DW in the final standings.

On the men’s elite side, Naperville Running Company TC fielded 3 squads. DW and Fleet Feet also had squads toe the line. NRC’s A-team finished 10th overall, led by Alec Danner who was the first Circuit runner across the line and finished 36th overall. 

DW finished 17th and Fleet Feet finished 37th. However, the battle for second place is not settled between these two teams, as both clubs split their roster to compete in competitive men’s and mixed gender categories. 

The mixed recreational category gives the best insight into what the Circuit's "All Around" category will look like after the Shuffle. This The Shuffle uses a unique form of age grading to determine team finishes. In a shock to no one, Evanston Running Club secured the win with Bill Leiner and Nancy Rollins winning their age groups. Evanston won the Division I All Around team competition last year, and it appears they plan to win it again this year. 

Looking towards the Division II competition, Gold Coast Run Club ran extremely well, finishing 6th out of 49 teams in the mixed recreational division. This bodes well for the newcomer team as they split their roster between 3 recreational teams, 1 competitive team, and the West Loop Run Crew. This level of roster depth is completely new to the Division II competition.

Team Standings Heading into April

The scoring process takes time early in the season. For that reason, we won’t know the official standings until mid-April. However, a few teams have already started to show their cards.

Nameless and NRC have shown that they have the top end firepower to win any race they put their minds to. Evanston remains extremely competitive in the All-Around category between two age group wins at Shamrock and Lennington’s 5th place finish at March Madness. Their team has a perfect blend of age groupers and pack leaders. 

CARA Racing Team remains relevant in the team trophy competition, winning the “Fastest Team” award at March Madness, and winning 3 of the 4 categories they entered in the Deloitte Team Challenge (Recreational Men, Recreation Women, Competitive Women).

On the Division II side, Dick Pond appears to be taking an early lead in a couple categories thanks to their Boston bound contingent doing well at March Madness. However, Gold Coast’s depth at Shamrock shows that they have the roster to win the All-Around category if they can get all of their pieces to perform at the right place at the right time.

The final giants not mentioned much were Fleet Feet and Fast Track. Fleet Feet’s team was split into so many squads at Shamrock, that it’s hard to tell how effectively their usual 100-person roster was able to move them up the standings. Fast Track has also been off to a slow start to the season, sending smaller squads than usual to the opening two races. Regardless of a slow start, there is a reason Fast Track has won 15 of the past 16 open men’s titles, don’t count them out!

Important Links:

Join a team, follow the schedule, check standings, and learn about the CARA Hall of Fame at cararuns.org/circuit.

Support the Circuit, get discounts, and earn individual points: become a CARA Member.

Join the Circuit Community on our Chicago Racing Circuit Facebook Group and Chicago Racing Circuit Strava Club.