page_title: Chicago Marathon
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chicago Marathon / History
caption_attribution_description: English: First Chicago Marathon September 23, 1905. Louis Marks in Lead.
context_page_description: The Chicago Marathon is a marathon held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also an IAAF Gold Label race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest race by number of finishers worldwide.
  Annual Chicago marathons were held from 1905 to the 1920s, but the first race in the present series occurred on September 25, 1977 under the original name the Mayor Daley Marathon, which drew a field of 4,200 runners. The race has been held every year since, except in 1987 when only a half-marathon was run, and in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It became among the fastest-growing modern-marathon road races in the world, due in part to its largely fast and flat course which facilitates the pursuit of personal records and world record performances. The race has achieved its elite status among marathons by developing relationships with sponsors who provide prize money to lure elite runners who have produced American and world record performances. Since 2008, the race has been owned and organized by Bank of America, and is officially known as the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
context_section_description: The first modern marathon at the 1896 Games of the I Olympiad in Greece generated interest in the sport which led to similar races throughout most western countries and across the United States.  While marathons sporadically occurred in New York City and St. Louis, the Boston Marathon had established an annual marathon in 1897, soon to be followed by a Chicago annual race. Beginning in 1905, the Chicago Marathon (organized first by the Illinois Athletic Club 1905 to 1909, then sponsored by the Chicago Daily News after 1910) was held annually, with significant community and spectator support, until the early 1920s.
  The first Chicago Marathon was run on September 23, 1905. That first race began at the Evanston Golf Club and finished in front of a standing-room-only paying crowd at Washington Park Race Track. Beginning with a little over a dozen runners, only seven completed the course.  In a stunning upset, a reported 100,000 or more spectators watched Chicagoan Rhud Metzner come from behind to steal a late-race victory from the favored Louis Marks.  With that first race, the Chicago Marathon began an annual run of epic races that continued until the early 1920s, eventually on a revised course that largely resembles today's marathon route. The second year, feet bleeding, Canadian Dennis Bennett won, while a band played "Maple Leaf Forever."  In the early years, runners had their own regimens: John Lindquist from Brooklyn took a commanding lead in 1907 while doing whiskey shots, but by mile 23, he was apparently falling asleep; while, the next year, the French-born Chicagoan Albert Corey had more success sipping champagne. Over the years elite fields included Olympic champions, world records were continually sought, and the marathon continued to inspire Chicago communities and spectators until challenges of the early 1920s sidelined the event.
  It was not until the health consciousness of the 1960s that marathon growth gained traction in the public's eyes.  Frank Shorter's 1972 Games of the XX Olympiad marathon victory represented the convergence of many middle-class American ideals. Then the 1976 New York City Marathon, which was the first New York City Marathon to embrace the five borough course, popularized the big city marathon.  As the New York marathon began to grow exponentially in the 1970s, the Chicago Marathon was established as a rival to the New York City Marathon. By the mid-1980s, the Chicago Marathon was ensconced as one of the big four marathons.  During the mid-1980s, it was named America's Marathon/Chicago and opened up the way for appearance payments.  Joan Benoit Samuelson described the Chicago Marathons of the mid-1980s as "The World's Marathon".  The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is an open race with no qualifying time to participate.
  The Modern Era Chicago Marathon was founded over the objection of Ed Kelly, Chicago Park District Superintendent who refused permission to run in the parks or along the Lake Michigan lakefront. With the help of Lee Flaherty, the event's founder who operated out of Flair House in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's support for the marathon was enlisted.  Although Mayor Daley died, his successor Michael Anthony Bilandic approved the race and got Kelly on board.  Michael Bilandic, a runner, and his wife actually passed out medals at the first marathon on September 25, 1977.  This first edition of the modern Chicago Marathon was called the Mayor Daley Marathon.  Flaherty footed the bill for the first race, which had no sponsors.  He again footed the bill in 1978 when the race was again called the Mayor Daley Marathon. In 1979, however, Beatrice Foods became the first race sponsor.
  In the early years the Chicago Marathon was held in August.  It has from its inception with 4,200 runners and 2,128 finishers been one of the nation's largest marathons.  The 2000 running was second only to New York.  The 1979 and 1980 events, however, continued to be gatherings of amateur runners. By 1982, the race finally had sufficient prize money to 
caption: First Chicago Marathon September 23, 1905. Louis Marks in the lead.
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