Chicago Marathon - Heritage Plaque
Plaque name: Chicago Marathon
Location: Bank of America Tower, 110 N Wacker Dr Suite 3975, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
Plaque awarded: 25/09/2024
Reason: Plaque Category - Competition
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.