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. 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. It was not until the health consciousness of the 1960s that marathon growth gained traction in the public's eyes. 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. During the mid-1980s, it was named America's Marathon/Chicago and opened up the way for appearance payments. Runner and Olympic Gold Medalist
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.
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. follows the course car (with clock) during his 2008 victory. The lead course car carries the current race time. In the early years the Chicago Marathon was held in August. The 1979 and 1980 events, however, continued to be gatherings of amateur runners. By 1982, the race finally had sufficient prize money to attract world class athletes. The 1982 was the first with world class times such as the 2:10:59 by
Greg Meyer. By 1983, the Chicago Marathon had achieved its status as one of America's most important marathons. In 1984, Beatrice raised the purse to $250,000 ($50,000 more than New York's). Although 1986 had 40 world-class runners among the 8,000 participants the times paled in comparison. Beatrice dropped out as a sponsor in 1987. Because of this only a half-marathon race was held that year and attracted
Heileman Brewing Company to sponsor the 1988 Old Style Chicago Marathon. The race resulted in three women who had been passed over for the 1988
Games of the XXIV Olympiad placing in the top positions. In 1991, Heileman discontinued its sponsorship and both the prize money and performances waned. In 1992, the race again had no sponsorship, but 1993 brought new sponsor
LaSalle Bank. In 1994, the race became the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. In 1996, LaSalle Bank purchased the Chicago Marathon from Major Events, Inc., who had purchased the race three years prior from Flaherty. In 1998, the race began using
transponder timing. In 2001, when
Catherine Ndereba broke the women's world record marathon time, both the men's and women's then-current world records had been set at the Chicago Marathon. In 2007, Bank of America acquired LaSalle Bank's parent company
ABN AMRO North America in 2007 and assumed the race's title sponsorship. The 2007 race made history with the first ever CEO Marathon Challenge. The race featured a special competition among the CEOs, presidents, company owners and c-suite executives of companies with at least $5 million in annual
gross revenue ($2.5 million for women). The 2007 race also made history for having three (men's, women's & men's
wheelchair) of its four races decided in the final 100 meters in a day of record setting heat. The race was partially shut down early (after three and a half hours) as temperatures rose to an unseasonably hot 88 °F (31 °C), which surpassed both the temperature records for the Chicago Marathon and official Chicago records for October 7. Over 10,000 registrants chose not to run in the record temperatures, while 10,934 people did not finish (many were called after the course closed early for safety). In 2024,
Sebastian Coe, president of
World Athletics, presented the Chicago Marathon with the World Athletics Heritage Plaque{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/chicago-marathon/bank-of-america-chicago-marathon-earns-world-athletics-heritage-award/3558266/?os=vpkn75tqhopmkpsxtq&ref=app |title=Bank of America Chicago Marathon earns World Athletics Heritage Award ==Course==