About Ride The Wake

Ride The Wake is a water ski marathon to benefit Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria, IL. 2008 marks our 11th year and boy are we excited!

RTW was established by Joe T and his family. Their son was a patient at CHOI when he was born. Joe and his family was so overwhelmed by the quality of care that they received from CHOI, that he wanted to give back to the organization that gave so much to him. Joe has been an avid skier for as long as any of us can remember. He thought what better way than to organize his skiing friends to raise funds.

The first several years of RTW consisted of skiing from Chicago, IL all the way to St. Louis, MO over 2 days. The first day of skiing would start in downtown Chicago (yes, i really said downtown) and stop in Peoria where everyone could spend the night (lucky for us, in our own homes). The 2nd day would begin in Peoria and end at The Arch in St. Louis. A very cool ending to say the least.

About 4 years ago, in an effort to cut cost so we could give more to CHOI, we decided to make our event a 1-day event. Our route now starts in the St. Louis area and ends in Peoria/Chillicothe, IL. While we miss seeing the Arch, we love ending our event in the area we are trying to support.

Over the course of the past 10 years, our group of friends has raised close to $100,000.00 for CHOI. Through family, friends, co-workers, sponsors, strangers, and a lot of t-shirt sales, we've raised a lot of money for a well-deserving organization.

Thanks to all those people, our sponsors, and the team of skiiers that have made this possible!