All events & mapMarathonBank of America Chicago Marathon
Sport · Event guide
Chicago's 2027 race is scheduled for October 10. The general application is closed, while the organiser lists charity entry; 2027 road-closure details are still forthcoming.
01 · Event details
Timing: Sunday, October 10, 2027 · published
Venue or host area: Chicago city course, with the organiser directing runners and spectators to public transportation. The 2027 course and street-closure details were not yet posted in the reviewed sources.
Access: The 2027 general application window has closed. The organiser lists charity partners; availability and fundraising terms depend on each partner.
02 · Plan the visit
The official 2027 FAQ, updated October 29, says the general application window is closed and points readers to the charity program. The organiser strongly encourages runners and spectators to use public transportation. It says 2027 road-closure details will be posted later, so do not use a previous-edition closure map as current guidance.
03 · Location
Illinois' lakeside city is laid out on a strict grid along Lake Michigan, with the marathon running north, west and south through its neighbourhoods.
The airports serving Chicago and its region:
Connections, terminals and transfer arrangements change — confirm them with the airline and the organiser rather than planning around a fixed transfer time.
Chicago city course, with the organiser directing runners and spectators to public transportation. The 2027 course and street-closure details were not yet posted in the reviewed sources.
The catalogue marker shows Chicago, United States at city or region level only — it is not an entrance, a gate, a course or a transfer route. For the event’s position among its category peers, open the Marathon overview and map.
04 · Overview
A flat loop marathon that starts and finishes in Grant Park and passes through more than two dozen Chicago neighbourhoods, from the Loop and River North out to the city's western and southern districts. The field is around 50,000 and the course is one of the fastest in the world: three of the men's and women's world records have been set on it.
Chicago is the American big-city marathon and the one that made the loop course work commercially — the route is designed so spectators can reach several points on foot and the whole city is involved rather than a single district. Its record history is unusually dense: Khalid Khannouchi's 2:05:42 in 1999, Dennis Kimetto's 2:03:38 in 2013 and Brigid Kosgei's 2:14:04 in 2019 were all world records at the time.
The first Chicago Marathon was run in 1977 as the Mayor Daley Marathon, with a few thousand runners on a course through the city's parks. It professionalised in the 1980s, added prize money and an elite field, and became a founding member of the World Marathon Majors series in 2006. The event was cancelled in 2007 mid-race because of extreme heat, and again in 2020; the current Grant Park start and finish dates from the 1990s.
| First held | 1977 as the Mayor Daley Marathon |
|---|---|
| Series | Abbott World Marathon Majors |
| Entry | Lottery, charity and tour-operator places |
| Course | Flat city loop, start and finish in Grant Park |
| Timing | Early October |
05 · Research & credits
Evidence and event information reviewed 2026-10-31. Published edition facts are separated from typical timing and historical context.
No affiliate links. This guide is for travel planning, not a guarantee of entry or event conditions.
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