Bank of America Chicago Marathon earns World Athletics Heritage Award

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon has been awarded the World Athletics Heritage Plaque by World Athletics, the marathon announced on Wednesday, Sept. 25 — the anniversary of the marathon’s inaugural race in 1977.

The plaque is awarded for “an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport.”

“It is an honor to receive such a prestigious recognition from World Athletics,” Executive Race Director of the Chicago Marathon Carey Pinkowski said in a statement. “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.”

In 1976, a small cohort of avid runners met at the Metropolitan YMCA on LaSalle Street to discuss their plan to host a marathon in Chicago. The founding group watched its idea come to life in 1977 when it hosted 4,200 local participants in the first Chicago Marathon.

Since then, the Chicago Marathon has expanded to 50,000 runners and around 1.7 million course spectators per year. Spectators have seen some of the world’s fastest performances since its inception. It has seen three men’s world records (Steve Jones, 2:08:05, 1984; Khalid Khannouchi, 2:05:42, 1999 and Kelvin Kiptum, 2:00:35, 2023) and three women’s world records (Catherine Ndereba, 2:18:47, 2001; Paula Radcliffe, 2:17:18, 2002 and Brigid Kosgei, 2:14:04, 2019).

Chicago Marathon participants have raised more than $322 million through The Charity Program. The program has grown from 14 charities with 1,674 runners in 2002 to over 200 charities with more than 16,000 runners in 2024.

“The Chicago Marathon has an illustrious world record history poignantly highlighted in February this year by the tragic death of Kelvin Kiptum,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a statement. “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 Mayors 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 recognizes an outstanding contribution to the history and development of road running.”

The 46th Bank of America Chicago Marathon will take place on Sunday, Oct. 13.