Sports

Nearly 150 Evanston Runners Complete 2024 Chicago Marathon

Evanston athletes were among the more than 50,000 runners that took part in a record-breaking Chicago marathon.

Runners cross the LaSalle Street bridge during the 2024 Chicago Marathon, Sunday, in Chicago
Runners cross the LaSalle Street bridge during the 2024 Chicago Marathon, Sunday, in Chicago (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

EVANSTON, IL — A total of 149 runners from Evanston successfully completed the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, joining more than 50,000 participants who crossed the finish line in Grant Park.

This year’s marathon, the 46th edition of the event, solidified Chicago’s reputation as a record-setting race.

The race, which saw a world record broken in the women’s division, attracted runners from all 50 states and over 100 countries. The 26.2-mile race started and ended in Grant Park, with runners traversing 29 of Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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This year’s event set also a record with more than 50,000 finishers, the largest field in race history, and was supported by over 1.7 million spectators lining the streets.

Evanston athletes — 69 women, 79 men and one nonbinary runner — competed alongside elite runners from around the globe, including Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya, who smashed the women’s world record with a time of 2:09:56, and John Korir of Kenya, who ran the second-fastest men’s time in the event’s history at 2:02:44.

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Ruth Chepngetich, of Kenya, crossed the finish line of the 2024 Chicago Marathon to win the women's professional division and break the women's marathon world record Sunday in Grant Park. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 finish made her the first woman to break the 2:10 barrier, shattering the previous world record of 2:11:53 set in Berlin in 2023 by Tigst Assefa.

After the race, Chepngetich said setting a new record Sunday was part of her plan.

“I was not worried [about the pace]," she said. "I was feeling good. I decided we will go with that pace. My plan was 2:09 or 2:10. The world record is not easy. You need focus and determination.”

Chepngetich's performance in Chicago now gives her the first, fourth, and fifth fastest times ever run in the marathon.

Seven and a half minutes after Chepngetich’s record-breaking finish, Sutume Kebede of Ethiopia crossed the line in 2:17:32, and Irine Cheptai of Kenya finished third in 2:17:51. American Susanna Sullivan was the top American finisher on the women’s side, placing seventh in 2:21:56.

On the men’s side, Korir pulled away from the pack between the 30- and 35-kilometer marks — about 20 miles in — running back-to-back miles in 4:25 and 4:22 to secure his victory in 2:02:44, a personal best and the second-fastest time ever in Chicago.

“I knew I was in 2:02 shape," Korir said after the race. "I knew I wanted to close the season with my PB [personal best], and I did. My training was good and when I was training, my coach told me, ‘You can run 2:02.’ I believed him.”

Huseydin Mohamed Esa of Ethiopia finished second with a time of 2:04:39, and Amos Kipruto of Kenya rounded out the top three at 2:04:50. Fresno native CJ Albertson was the top American male finisher, placing seventh with a time of 2:08:17, setting a personal best by more than 90 seconds.

In the wheelchair division, five-time champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland, known as the "silver bullet," defended his men's title, finishing the race in 1:25:54.

"It was a tactical race," Hug said after a tight finish with Daniel Romanchuk. "I attacked countless times and then we had a finish sprint and luckily I won."

And Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland broke her own 2023 course record in the women’s wheelchair race, finishing in 1:36:12, far ahead of the competition, after Susannah Scaroni of the United States had to drop out due to a flat tire.

“I was super excited to come back here to Chicago. It was just really unfortunate that Susannah got a flat tire really early," Debrunne said. "There was a lot of wind and of course, it's always tough when you do all yourself. And I struggled quite often, so I was really happy when I was in the finish."

The 47th running of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon is scheduled for Oct. 12, 2025. The four application period opens on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.

Here are the finishers from Evanston and their final marathon times, in order of their overall gender place, according to unofficial results:

Evanston Women:

186th — Kayla Fortino, 2:57:40
719th — Lucy Lytle, 3:12:13
1,346th — Danielle Chu, 3:20:14
1,953rd — Laura Prete, 3:25:52
2,768th — Tricia Estela, 3:32:18
2,912th — Esmee Kuiper, 3:33:31
4,306th — Emma Dzwierzynski, 3:43:20
4,380th — Maggie Sereika, 3:43:49
4,646th — Emily Lewis, 3:45:27
4,705th — Lauren McCourt, 3:45:48
5,017th — Lise Lafferty, 3:47:49
5,156th — Mary Leinenweber, 3:48:41
6,040th — Jen Strickland, 3:53:42
6,132nd — Lindsey Kennedy, 3:54:12
6,245th — Betsy Leinenweber, 3:54:46
6,622nd — Margaret Halverson, 3:56:47
6,917th — Tara Feenaghty, 3:58:13
7,312th — Mary Kate Tracy, 4:00:10
8,231st — Sofia Patton, 4:06:26
8,269th — Srijamya Raghuvanshi (Canada), 4:06:42
8,927th — Emilie Giacobbe, 4:11:05
8,933rd — Clare Spaulding, 4:11:07
9,693rd — Alessandra Nitti, 4:16:08
10,125th — Madeline Pekala, 4:18:47
10,153rd — Jamie Morris, 4:18:57
10,185th — Erin Beacham, 4:19:13
10,310th — Sally Pinckney, 4:20:02
10,432nd — Olivia Grinker, 4:20:57
11,612th — Megan Paustian, 4:28:29
12,018th — Samantha Bernhardt (Germany), 4:30:50
12,038th — Rosario Cisternas (Chile), 4:31:00
12,273rd — Tamara Perry, 4:32:33
12,707th — Jana Willman, 4:35:32
12,842nd — Shudi Xu (China), 4:36:27
13,126th — Eloise Apple, 4:38:09
13,162nd — Kylie Callender, 4:38:25
13,339th — Annie Smith, 4:39:27
13,460th — Lucia Randall, 4:40:14
13,696th — Hali Aussems, 4:41:50
13,818th — Ling MacLean, 4:42:44
13,972nd — Lauren Hann, 4:43:57
14,513th — Sarah Tiano, 4:47:44
14,988th — Bridget Caraher, 4:50:40
15,474th — Kelly Schiff, 4:54:27
15,902nd — Lauren Schultz, 4:57:31
15,948th — Aryn Froum, 4:57:49
15,953rd — Rileigh Farragher, 4:57:51
16,464th — Gabrielle Froum, 5:01:50
17,476th — Jennifer Peltz, 5:11:25
17,552nd — Elizabeth Sanderson, 5:12:06
17,839th — Lynn Welch, 5:14:44
17,892nd — Casey Hicks, 5:15:15
18,416th — Andrea Elliott, 5:20:40
18,505th — Veronica Prince, 5:21:42
19,246th — Betsey Madden, 5:29:29
19,829th — Katharine Hughes, 5:36:09
20,008th — Azlyn Jenkins, 5:38:29
20,074th — Sharon Parks, 5:39:28
20,491st — Kayla Cohen, 5:44:55
21,645th — Denise Goode, 6:03:20
21,860th — Amy Marts, 6:07:36
21,871st — Irawati Kandela, 6:07:47
21,977th — Laura Koo, 6:09:46
22,502nd — Courtney Leinen, 6:23:03
22,654th — Erin Phifer, 6:27:28
22,719th — Stephanie Zelenetz, 6:29:05
23,202nd — Helen Kim, 6:47:23
23,381st — Michelle Cruz, 6:56:40
23,549th — Christine Wolf, 7:11:27

Evanston Men:

1,277th — Christopher Cummings, 2:49:53
1,837th — Ari Platt, 2:54:13
2,095th — Jeremy Rielley, 2:55:46
2,651st — Chun-Chi Huang (Taiwan), 2:58:38
3,005th — Zack Sanchez, 2:59:53
3,063rd — Doug McKenney, 3:00:10
3,136th — Sean Patton, 3:00:34
3,182nd — Zachary Halliday, 3:00:50
4,051st — Reuben Keller, 3:06:07
4,337th — Gedion Yitref, 3:07:44
4,769th — Matthew Moo, 3:09:58
4,962nd — Lucas Faron, 3:10:56
5,140th — Aaron Barnhart, 3:11:51
6,197th — Jose Salas (Chile), 3:16:51
7,328th — Shane Cashin, 3:22:17
7,333rd — Paul Lang, 3:22:19
7,335th — Sam Lang, 3:22:20
8,505th — Nikolai Ortiz, 3:27:47
8,545th — William Hays, 3:27:56
8,764th — Gregor Dairaghi, 3:28:44
9,255th — Rui Carlos Da Cunha, 3:30:41
9,564th — Michael Greenstone, 3:32:22
10,277th — Allen Guo, 3:36:10
10,322nd — Joshua Decker, 3:36:29
10,576th — Cooper Silverman, 3:37:49
10,628th — David Murphy, 3:38:02
11,090th — Lucas De Oliveira Alves (Brazil), 3:40:04
11,242nd — Xiangmin Shen (China), 3:40:47
11,393rd — Michael Knoedel, 3:41:36
13,884th — Joel Krueger, 3:53:31
14,776th — Dylan Bardgett, 3:57:15
14,836th — Patrick May, 3:57:29
14,837th — Zach Basten, 3:57:29
14,860th — Daniel Drew, 3:57:33
15,266th — Kenneth Lyonswright, 3:59:05
15,581st — Matthew Johnson, 4:00:26
15,582nd — Sam Johnson, 4:00:26
16,558th — James Gilmartin, 4:06:59
16,661st — Juan Olivares, 4:07:37
17,030th — Andrew Sutcliffe, 4:10:04
17,428th — Joseph Bouley, 4:12:36
17,874th — John Hewitt, 4:15:35
17,886th — Pablo Sanchez (Mexico), 4:15:39
18,065th — Jonathan Kohrs, 4:16:52
18,068th — Dietmar Baum (Germany), 4:16:54
18,198th — Brian Connell, 4:17:44
18,367th — Arjun Gupta, 4:18:53
19,153rd — Philip Crowther, 4:25:01
19,250th — Fabio Serpa, 4:25:32
19,972nd — Billy Garcia, 4:30:12
20,679th — Theodore Froum, 4:36:06
20,812th — Thomas O'Connor, 4:37:09
21,748th — Ergen Ramon Rojas, 4:44:57
22,417th — Michael Staff, 4:51:04
22,535th — Andrew Futerman, 4:52:08
22,613th — Matthew Oliver, 4:53:02
22,717th — Pj Powers, 4:53:50
23,166th — Ben Kogan, 4:58:11
23,355th — Ashvin Veligandla, 5:00:05
23,359th — Vikash Bagla (Canada), 5:00:11
23,441st — Anmol Sahore (India), 5:01:11
24,398th — Chris Hegarty, 5:13:34
24,542nd — Bradley Wheeler, 5:15:30
24,699th — Karl Vogel, 5:17:50
24,713th — Eli Smith-Cohen, 5:18:01
24,762nd — Casey Hanrahan, 5:18:43
24,809th — Troy Glenn, 5:19:22
25,096th — Brent Groubert, 5:24:01
25,240th — John Kruper, 5:26:27
25,278th — Rich O'Brien, 5:27:11
25,575th — Yi-Chun Hung (Taiwan), 5:32:06
25,745th — Phil Yob, 5:35:10
26,149th — Roland Deex, 5:43:21
26,349th — Lavanga Wijekoon, 5:47:58
26,387th — Lupe Orozco Jr, 5:48:44
26,803rd — Marcello Bondurant, 5:59:10
27,703rd — Iban Leon (Mexico), 6:45:20
27,707th — Jason Almazan, 6:46:19
27,968th — David Nelson, 8:25:49

Evanston nonbinary:

134th — Kt Hawbaker, 7:15:33


The Associated Press and Patch staff contributed reporting.

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