The start of the Chicago Marathon (© Getty Images)
The Chicago Marathon (1977) has been awarded the World Athletics Heritage Plaque in the category of Competition, celebrating a history of marathon running in the Illinois city which stretches back more than a century.
The announcement is made today to commemorate the anniversary of the first edition of the present race which took place on 25 September 1977.
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition, awarded for an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport of track and field athletics and of out of stadia athletics disciplines such as cross country, mountain, road, trail and ultra-running, and race walking.
The plaque will be unveiled later today in its permanent location at the Bank of America Tower, a 56-floor skyscraper, which is home to the race’s title sponsor, and is located in downtown next to the Chicago River.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe commented: “The Chicago Marathon has an illustrious world record history, poignantly highlighted in February this year by the tragic death of Kelvin Kiptum. The young, prodigiously talented Kenyan had set the current men’s world record in the city last October, coming just 35 seconds short of the two-hour mark.”
“A member of the World Marathon Majors and a Platinum level World Athletics Label Race, Chicago is a jewel in the international marathon calendar, boasting the newly crowned Olympic champion Sifan Hassan as its women’s course record-holder.
“Coupled with a marathon history in the city dating back to 1905, the Chicago Marathon thoroughly deserves the heritage plaque which recognises an outstanding contribution to the history and development of road running.”
Carey Pinkowski, executive race director of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, commented: “It is an honour to receive such a prestigious recognition from World Athletics. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon started as an idea and has grown into one of the greatest road races in the world.
“Since its founding, the Chicago Marathon has been about the participants who commit to running 26.2 miles through the heart of Chicago and the community members and city agencies that come together to transform our city into a world-class racing environment. This recognition is a testament to their contributions.”
World Athletics Heritage Director Chris Turner with Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski (© Bank of America Chicago Marathon)
Mayor Daley Marathon
The city of Chicago first held a marathon in 1905. Like many other US cities, Chicago followed the example of Boston which had established an annual marathon in 1897, the year following the creation of the marathon race at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens. Organised by the Illinois Athletic Club, Chicago’s first race was won by Chicagoan Rhud Metzner. The race continued to be held annually until the early 1920s.
Following the Olympic victory of USA’s Frank Shorter in 1972, and the rapid interest in road running which swept America, the present Chicago Marathon was founded on 25 September 1977. The race was named after the city’s Mayor Richard J Daley, who had given the creation of the marathon his support but who had died in office in December of the previous year.
More than 4000 runners took part, a huge field for the time, and the men’s and women’s races were respectively won by Dan Cloeter (2:17:52) and Dorothy Doolittle (2:50:47).
Nowadays, the Chicago Marathon has grown to 50,000 runners who must complete the race, which begins and ends in Grant Park, within the time limit of 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Six world records have been set on Chicago’s fast and flat course. There have been three world marks by men: Steve Jones GBR, 2:08:05 (1984), four-time winner Khalid Khannouchi MAR, 2:05:42 (1999), and current world record holder the late Kelvin Kiptum KEN, 2:00:35 (2023), and three records have been established by women: Catherine Ndereba KEN, 2:18:47 (2001), Paula Radcliffe GBR, 2:17:18 (2002), and Brigid Kosgei KEN, 2:14:04 (2019) whose course record was broken by Sifan Hassan last year.
The rollcall of Chicago Marathon winners reads like a history book of marathon running. Pioneering women’s legends such as Rosa Mota, Joan Benoit and Ingrid Kristiansen have been victors, while Toshihiko Seko, Samuel Wanjiru and Eliud Kipchoge are among the illustrious names who have won the men’s race.
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage