2025 RBC Race for the Kids at Comer Children’s to take place October 5
The 2025 RBC Race for the Kids at Comer Children’s will be held on Sunday, October 5, at the University of Chicago’s Main Quadrangle in Hyde Park.
The annual 5K event raises money for childhood illness research, patient care and therapeutic programs at UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, a 172-bed facility within the University of Chicago Medicine health system. Located on Chicago’s South Side, it treats some of the most diverse and challenging cases in the nation.
“Raising money for pediatric research and patient care is critical to our mission of caring for our youngest and most vulnerable patients,” said John Cunningham, MD, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Physician-in-Chief at Comer Children’s. “Thanks to our community of donors, we continue to transform lives.”
The impact has been great. In 2013, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) became the event’s title sponsor. Since the race’s inception in 2003, more than 19,000 people have participated, raising over $4.2 million for 30 research projects.
Last year’s efforts helped support studies on asthma, cardiac birth defects and blunt trauma, respectively. Funds also supported staff training to care for children with special needs.
In addition, race proceeds benefit Comer Children’s Child Life and Family Education programs that include therapeutic services, such as music and play therapy.
“Community support for the RBC race not only fuels our mission to provide comfort and joy to our young patients, but it also strengthens the bonds that make healing possible,” said Jennie Ott, MS, CCLS, director of Child Life and Family Education at Comer Children’s.
RBC Race for the Kids has grown from a single Race in New York in 2009 into a series of more than 25 races that take place around the world. More than 450,000 participants have raised over $100 million Canadian dollars for youth charities across the globe.
Comer Children’s was established in 2005 thanks to a generous donation from Gary Comer, founder of Lands’ End, and his wife, Frances. It is home to the only Level 1 pediatric trauma center on the South Side. It includes a 30-bed pediatric intensive care unit, one of the state’s busiest neonatal intensive units and an array of general, specialty and subspecialty care.
A major tertiary referral center, Comer Children’s admits about 5,000 patients and accommodates nearly 37,000 outpatient clinic visits annually. It is part of the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance (CCHA), a collaboration between Comer Children’s, Advocate Children’s Hospital and Pediatrics at NorthShore University HealthSystem.
About RBC
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