The Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon is under new ownership — and this time, those owners are from the event’s own backyard.

The sale was announced Monday morning by title sponsor Christie Clinic after previous owner and marathon director Mark Knutson, who runs a business in North Dakota, passed the event on to seven local buyers.

The timing was good for me from a personal standpoint,” Knutson said. “There were interested parties, so it seemed like a good time.”

According to a press release, Knutson never intended to sell the event, which will be in its third year next spring, when he originally launched it in 2009. Approximately 15,000 runners from 46 states and five countries participated in the marathon and half-marathon last spring.

The buyers include Jan Seeley, Mike Lindemann, Tom Coleman, Jedd Swisher, Greg Reynolds, Blaise Aguirre and Christie Clinic. All buyers have held an active role in the race over the past three years, and all except Seeley’s brother-in-law, Aguirre, are local business owners.

“We put together a local group to buy it so it could be locally owned,” said Seeley, who has previously acted as the co-director of the marathon.

Christie Clinic Chief Executive Officer Alan Gleghorn, said in a press release that the clinic has seen firsthand the impact the event has on the community and appropriately became one of its owners.

“Mark (Knutson) was approached by a buyer from Texas who wanted to purchase the event,” Gleghorn said. “The last thing we wanted to see was this race run and operated outside of the Champaign-Urbana community. It was an easy decision for us to become part owners of this fantastic community event.”

With new ownership comes new features. Several changes have been made to the marathon and half-marathon for next year.

“We moved the 5K to Friday night as a way of featuring that race more prominently,” Seeley said.

Along with the 5K, a 10K has been added to Saturday morning. Those who run the 5K on Friday and then run either the full or half-marathon on Saturday will receive a special I-Challenge medal.

“It’s a true community-type of an event in terms of the sponsors, volunteers and participants,” Seeley said. “The fact that its locally owned now makes it a very special event.”