(Bloomberg) -- There will be a bittersweet taste to this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
When the elite runners line up for the start on Sunday, they will each be carrying a memorial tribute to one of the greatest athletes the sport has ever seen. Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, who set the world record in Chicago a year ago and came close to breaking the magical two-hour barrier, was killed in a car crash in February at age 24.
Organizers are paying tribute to Kiptum by placing a mark on the bibs of top runners with his name and time (2:00:35). His race uniform will also be on display at the marathon expo, and there will be a moment of silence.
“He definitely put Chicago front and center last year with an amazing performance,” said race director Carey Pinkowski. “There’s no doubt in my mind he would have become the face of marathon running. And there’s no doubt in my mind, he would have gone on and won the Olympic Marathon in Paris and then come back and done some more historic things.”
Now the Windy City is preparing for the first Chicago Marathon since Kiptum’s death, and without an obvious candidate to win the race or even come close to his feat.
“Last year, it was obvious who was going to win,” Pinkowski said. “This year it will make for some interesting chemistry, some tactics, and maybe a new star will be born.”
The city’s flat 26.2-mile (42 kilometer) course makes it one of the fastest in the world together with Berlin, an attribute that’s helping lure 50,000 runners for the 46th annual race, an all-time high. A record number of participants, or 35% of the total, will come from abroad.
With so many international visitors, the economic impact of the race could surpass last year’s $547 million, the most ever. That’s more than double the figure for Boston, which welcomed some 30,000 runners in April.
“International runners tend to stay longer, in hotels and spending money at local museums, eating at restaurants and doing other non-running activities,” said Geoffrey Hewings, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who helped craft last year’s marathon’s impact-assessment report alongside Don Jones of Don Jones & Associates.
“Post pandemic, cities need to lean into unique experiences that draw new visitors, especially international visitors,” said Samir Mayekar, who served as deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “There’s no better event to accomplish this than the Chicago Marathon.”
Take Marta Bischeri, for example. She’s flying in from Italy on Friday and plans to stay at a hotel downtown for five days. While the 42-year old works as a finance professional for Culligan, a water company headquartered in the Chicago suburbs, this will be her first time meeting her team in person.
Outside of getting to the finish line, she’s looking forward to visiting the sights, seeing a show or sporting event, and shopping.
Boris Yepez, 40, is flying in from Quito, Ecuador. It’s his first time in Chicago, where he’ll stay for four days. He wouldn’t choose to visit the city if it weren’t for the marathon, which he’s running with two friends from Ecuador, and two others from Miami and New York, he said. Their group plans to eat local food, including the famous deep-dish pizza, and attend a river-boat tour of the architecture.
Chicago, which is facing a budget gap of almost $1 billion for next year, is banking on revenue from large events earlier this year such as the Lollapalooza music festival, Nascar and the Democratic National Convention. The marathon is an opportunity to boost international tourism in the later part of the year, said Isaac Reichman, a spokesman for Choose Chicago, a marketing organization for the city. It comes right before the infamous Chicago winter kicks in.
The city has welcomed 1.4 million international visitors through August, up 15% from a year earlier. Still, the overall annual figures have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. Chicago attracted 1.8 million tourists from other countries last year, almost 20% below 2019 levels, according to the marketing agency.
Many hotels and restaurants have been booked for months, catering to runners looking for accommodations and a carbohydrate-loaded meal in the days leading to the race. Some hotels host potluck meals for large groups, including charities that raise money for various causes.
“The marathon is often the busiest weekend of the year for Chicago hotels as we welcome athletes, their families and friends, and race fans,” said Michael Jacobson, president of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association. “These large-scale events not only provide an immediate benefit to hotels and the employees they support but also generate economic investment for years to come.”
Chicago is one of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors, including Berlin, Boston, New York, London and Tokyo. That brings international runners like Bischeri looking to chase the coveted six-star medal, an accomplishment of finishing all the major races.
Businesses pay millions of dollars to support races in those six cities and award professional prize money. Bank of America is also the presenting sponsor of the Boston Marathon, while Tata Consultancy Services is the title sponsor for the London and New York races.
“Our objective is to meet clients in the right area, with the right tone. And sports is becoming the last live place you can do that,” said David Tyrie, Bank of America’s chief digital and marketing officer. “We want to have deep ties in the community.”
Regardless of who wins Sunday’s men’s and women’s races, it will be a long time before Chicago forgets Kelvin Kiptum.
“He was the best I’ve ever seen,” Pinkowski said.
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