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Weather Trending Warmer For Chicago Marathon

Posted October 8th, 2008 at 9:34 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

While not expected to reach the sweltering highs which plagued last year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, temperatures in the Windy City for Sunday’s race are, nonetheless, going to be warm for marathon running.

Race Results Weekly checked the weather forecast for Chicago using three popular websites, and all predict temperatures to reach the mid-70’s F (low/mid-20’s C):

WeatherUnderground.com: Partly cloudy, high 74°F/23°C, low 63°F/17°C

Weather.com: Partly cloudy, high 76°F/24°C, low 61°F/16°C

Weather.gov: Mostly sunny, high 75°F/24°C (Saturday night low of 59°F/15°C)

The humidity will also be high at the 8:00 a.m. starting time, between
80% and 90%.

Executive race director Carey Pinkowski and his team have taken steps to mitigate the effects of warm weather on the athletes, adding more aid stations and beefing up both staffing and supplies at each one. They also implemented an Event Alert System (EAS) which provides runners with an assessment of course conditions using a color coding system: Low (green) to Moderate (yellow) to High (red) to Extreme (black). According to the event’s website, the current assessment is “Moderate/Yellow.”

“(This) suggests less-than-ideal conditions for marathon running,” reads the posting on the site, ChicagoMarathon.com.

At the 2007 edition of the race, conditions were freakishly warm for October in Chicago. Temperatures ranged from 77°F/25°C at the start to 80°F/27°C at the finish, accompanied by high humidity. The race had to be shut down about three hours and 50 minutes into the event to protect the athletes. Runners still on the course were diverted to the finish area via a different, and shorter, route.

The professional races were slowed considerably, but nonetheless produced thrilling finishes. Patrick Ivuti just beat Jaouad Gharib in the men’s race in a sprint finish; both men were timed in 2:11:00. Women’s winner Berhane Adere came from well behind to catch an unaware and exhausted Adriana Pirtea in the final 20 meters to win by three seconds in 2:33:49. Ivuti’s was the slowest winning time in Chicago in 12 years, while Adere’s was the slowest in 15 years.