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Sponsor Name Change
for Chicago Marathon

Posted January 31st, 2008 at 6:03 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The Chicago Marathon announced that the official title of their race would change to reflect the turnover in ownership of the bank which owns it. Known last year as the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, this year the event will be called the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the race’s logo has been updated, accordingly.

“It is our privilege and honor to continue the grand tradition of this iconic race and maintain the tenets that have established it as one of the five most prestigious marathons in the world,” said Bank of America Illinois President David Rudis in a media release. “We also plan to strengthen and grow the race by developing additional community and philanthropic programs and welcoming new sponsors. Today is the first day of what we believe will be an exciting new era for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.”

The event also announced that the registration process for the October 12 race would open tomorrow. The race plans to enroll 45,000 runners (last year’s race had 35,867 starters).

Bank of America is already a major player in sports sponsorships, which include Major League Baseball, NASCAR, National Football League, the PGA Tour and the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

“Bank of America has displayed an overwhelming enthusiasm for the marathon since day one and the exciting developments we are working on for 2008 will be a great service to our runners,” said executive race director Carey Pinkowski of Chicago Events Management, the consulting firm which has overseen the race for 19 years. “The runners who choose to compete in our race and commit to the months of preparation are always our top priority and I am proud that providing the best possible experience for them will continue to be our number one goal.”

The 2007 edition was marked by bizarrely high temperatures which forced organizers to shut down the race after about 3 hours and 50 minutes, directing those who had not yet reached the half-way point by that time to head directly back to the finish. As a result, the event had only 24,933 official finishers.