#4 Chicago Marathon
The Chicago Marathon is an annual event in Chicago, Illinois, and also one of the six World Marathon Majors. Affiliated with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest race by the number of finishers worldwide. The road race is limited to 45,000 runners and only runners who finish the circuit within 6½ hours are officially timed.
The first Chicago Marathon was run on September 23, 1905. However, in 1987 only a half-marathon was run. It is among the growing marathon road races in the world since its fast and flat course facilitates the pursuit of personal records and world record performances.
World records have been broken 4 times at Chicago. In 1984, Steve Jones broke the world record with a timing of 2:08:05. In 1999, Khalid Khannouchi from Morocco surpassed Jones’ record clocking 2:05:42.
The women's record, on the other hand, was broken in two consecutive years. In 2001, Catherine Ndereba from Kenya broke the record in 2:18:47, and very soon, the next year Paula Radcliffe surpassed that mark with 2:17:18.
Radcliffe's world record is also the course record; while the men's record is 2:03:45, set in 2013 by Dennis Kimetto.
