47,000 Runners Slated To Tackle 2023 Chicago Marathon

CHICAGO — More than 47,000 runners, including some of the world’s elite performers, are preparing for the 2023 running of the Chicago Marathon, which will go off on Sunday morning in one of the city's rites of autumn.

The marathon, which is one of the world’s top six 26.2-mile running events (and fourth largest), will go off in waves beginning at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday with the men’s wheelchair event. Wave 1 of runners will go off at 7:30 a.m. with every wave after that going off 30 minutes after the previous start, race officials said.

The race course begins in Grant Park and will weave through 29 Chicago neighborhoods. The course, which is considered one the more favorable among marathon venues due to its flat nature, allows runners to develop a fast pace that can be maintained throughout the event.

Khalid Khannouchi was the last American man to run a world record in Chicago of 2:05:42 in 1999, while Kenya's Brigid Kosgei set the women's world record (2:14:04) in 2009. Ruth Chepngetich is seeking her third straight women's title after posting a personal best of 2:14:18 time in 2022. On the men's side, Benson Kipruto will look to defend his title this year after finishing last year's course in 2:04.24.

Weather conditions are scheduled to be favorable as well. Temperatures on Sunday are expected to top out at around 57 degrees with partly sunny skies, according to the National Weather Service.

The record-high temperature for the event took place in 2007 when temperatures reached 89 degrees and when, for the first time in the race’s history, race officials cut the event short due to the number of heat-related illnesses runners experienced.

The 2007 weather was the polar opposite of 1988 when temperatures only reached 21 degrees.