It’s a big weekend in Chicago! The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is always held on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. To help you grasp the enormity of the event, check out these fun facts about the Chicago Marathon by the numbers.
40,000 – runners who will hit the streets of Chicago
29 – neighborhoods that the 26.2 mile course passes through
1,450 – portable restrooms along the course and in Grant Park
20 – aid stations along the course
77,760 – gallons of water made available to runners (drink up!)
75,000 – bananas for runners (available at aid stations later in the race and in Grant Park)
10,000 – runners from outside the United States
50 – states represented by registrations for this year’s race
10,000 – runners in 2016 who ran for charity
$18.7 million – money raised by charity runners in 2016
$150 million – total dollars raised for charity since 2002
170 – charities people ran to support in 2016
1,637 – runner registered to run for Team World Vision, making it the charity with the most participants in 2016. (Team RMHC was second with 683)
1,200 – volunteers who work to make the Abbott Health & Fitness Expo packet pick up happen
10,917 – volunteers who work on race day
3:45 – hour in the morning that check-in begins for the first volunteers
160 – golf carts in use on the day of the marathon
60,000 feet – length of fencing around Grant Park in place for the event.
224 – hours required for set up of the marathon
70 – hours it takes to break everything down
1,000 – radios used to communicate during race day
4 – number of times the world record has been set at the Chicago Marathon
2:09:25 – time it took 2016 men’s marathon winner Dickson Chumba of Kenya to complete the course.
2:23:33 – Florence Kiplagat’s winning time for the women in 2016
6:30 – the time at which the course closes (while marathons may continue, road reopen and official timing stops)
$100,000 – prize money awarded to winners of the men’s and women’s divisions
39 – years the marathon has been run – it started in 1977 as the Mayor Daley Marathon in honor of late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
$5 – entry fee for the marathon in 1977
Source: Bank of America Chicago Marathon
Good luck to all runners!
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