Get Your 6.6 on Route 66! 2026

Get Your 6.6 on Route 66! is a 6.6K run-walk in central Illinois, covering about 4.1 miles from Funks Grove to McLean. The race starts at 8:00 AM CDT and uses a point-to-point setup, with shuttles carrying participants from McLean back to the start area in Funks Grove. The distance is part of the hook: 6.6K on Route 66, a short road-race format built around one of the most familiar numbers in American highway history. Participants run or walk on the Mother Road itself, the old U.S. Route 66 that once linked Chicago with Santa Monica across 2,448 miles. The finish is at McLean’s restored historic water tower and park, which gives the race a clear local landmark instead of a generic street finish. CORE of McLean, a nonprofit 501(c)(3), organizes the event, and proceeds support the McLean community; earlier race money helped fund the water tower and park restoration. The Route 66 connection gives the event more personality than a standard small-town 5K, because the course uses a preserved piece of the former highway also called the Main Street of America and the Will Rogers Highway.